Purdue University
An Insight into Representative Gardens in Roman Wall
Painting
Jingqi Cong
AD 312
Professor David Parrish
An Insight into Representative Gardens in Roman Wall Paintings
As Gilbert Picard says at the beginning of Roman Painting, the pictorial arts are among
the most significant elements in the artistic legacy of Rome if only because of the sheer
volume of preserved works (8). This legacy is inherited mainly in a form of fresco wall
painting, and we can still see it today chiefly in Herculaneum and Pompeii because of the
protective coating formed by the eruption of Vesuvius. If Roman wall paintings are mirrors
looking into the society, then the representative garden scenes are components more close to
real lives. These artistic heritages provide us with a rare glimpse of aesthetical preference,
mentality, and aspiration of the Roman people throughout time. Garden is an abundant
scheme. Within a fully decorated version of wall, Romans are able to create an environment
combining every imaginable raw material and architectural form.
Throughout the history of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, there are three types
of Roman gardens. They are distinguished between palace gardens, villa gardens, and town
gardens (Turner 127). Palace gardens are usually located outdoors, and built in great open
courtyards with close association with porticoes and colonnades. House of Livia at
Primaporta [Fig.1], the villa owned by Augustus`s wife Livia, is a great example of Palace
garden. Villas are often seen as symbols of upper-class luxurious refinements. The best
surviving example of Villa garden is Hadrian`s Villa at Tivoli [Fig.2], the garden attached to
private country house built by Hadrian. Comparatively speaking, town gardens are much
smaller and more private in scale. There are many famous peristyle gardens in Pompeii with
admirable wall paintings such as the House of the Orchard [Fig.3].
2 Because of the biological diversity presented in garden paintings, they are always
valuable and rare sources of information on the general appearance of domestic Roman
gardens. The typical subject of a garden painting was a collection of trees and shrubs against
the blue, gold, or russet sky, with birds playing in a gushing fountain at the center of the
picture and a fence, or similar barrier, at the base (Stackelberg 30). The most dominated color
for garden paintings are usually blue, green, yellow, and black, and most of them were
generally earth minerals. The technique here is fresco, although elsewhere, especially in
Pompeii, research has shown that paintings were often executed in tempera (Strong 96).
Although it is painting on the wall, the notion of depth and perspective is not eliminated at all.
To achieve the sense of dimension on the flat surface, the closer subjects in garden paintings
are treated in finer detail while the background subjects are painted less sharply. In the later
style, even chiaroscuro, the treatment with light and shadow, has been used to create
architectural illusion.
There are four styles for Roman wall paintings in a chronological order. The garden
paintings started to boom at the early Second Style illusionism. The first, and finest example
is the so-called Garden Room in the Villa of Livia at Primaporta[Fig.1]. Built and decorated
some time round 20 B.C.E., this partially subterranean chamber, nearly 12m long and nearly
6m wide, was turned entirely into a kind of open-sided pavilion set in a paradise forest (Ling
150). Although there is no great vista of depth being demonstrated, the vivid color and
accurate representation of individual species still establish the painting`s remarkable value in
history of art. The only architectural element in the painting is the flimsy fence of the garden
3 itself. The precisely painted fence, the birds and fruits on the trees, along with blurrily treated
background subjects, help create an impressive atmosphere. Villa of Livia is an Anthem for
the nature.
Departing from the Second Style realistic nature, not only a new form of visual image
has been developed, but also the totally changed mentality has led to a new domestic
decorative style. Decorations become the distinctive characteristic for Third Style wall
painting. House of Orchard from Pompeii[Fig.3] is a great example of extravagant Third
Style garden painting. With trees and shrubs standing out negatively on a luxury black
background, the representation becomes less realistic. Unlike Livia`s Second Style, the wall
divided into three distinct panels by golden linear ornament, and each zone has an
independent content. The garden painting is located within the interior of the house to give
the impression of looking out of a window on to a garden. Also, the three-dimensional effect
becomes more intense with the shadow on the fence. Different from the decorative scenes,
there is another kind of garden painting emerging within the Third Style called “sacral-idyllic”
landscape. The Villa of Agrippa Postumus from Boscotrecase[Fig.4] is one of the best
examples. The garden painting is assigned into a balanced proportion with narrow but elegant
lines. A shepherd and his goats are wandering in a rustic background. The clear delineation of
wall, ornament, and a uniform color scheme in the individual rooms betokens a new longing
for calm, order, and clarity (Zanker 283). Other than pompous atmosphere, everything in this
garden painting seems so peaceful. Indeed, the Third Style is probably the most successful
Roman style of interior decoration.
4 Other than the aesthetic value Roman ancestors have left us, representative garden
paintings have many actual functions both in the past and now in archaeological research.
According to the research of Jashemski, the Pompeians put their gardens in the middle of
their house, instead of putting their house in the middle of their garden as we do. Therefore,
the space of the garden is usually very limited. One of the most popular roles of garden
paintings for Pompeians is as a means of enlarging the space in their actual garden. The
charming practice of making a small garden larger by painting trees and flowers on one or
more of the garden walls was a common one at Pompeii and other Vesuvian sites (104). With
this strategy, flowers that have no seed to grow and trees that are too large to plant can be
easily enjoyed in domestic gardens. For archaeologists, these garden paintings are extremely
important source of information about ancient Roman plants, animals, and even climates.
They study and identify the plants in the painting, and compare them with the plants that
grow in the area today (Jashemski 105).
Roman garden painting not only provides us an abundant horticultural and biodiversity
resource, it also gives us some insight into Roman cultural practices, their social values, and
most importantly ancient Roman`s profound love and admiration for nature.
From the illusion of delightful gardenscapes, one of the most important Roman key
concepts about life “Otium” is being revealed. “Otium” is a Latin abstract term, which means
private world of leisure. With the imperial expansion in the late Roman Republican era, more
and more husbandmen and peasants become wealthier than before. Therefore, they start to
build private houses and pursue peaceful leisure. By cherishing “Otium”, one could escape
5 into this realm from the chaos of the civil war and the suffering of the Republic in its death
throes, and in it one could seek new avenues to self-fulfillment (Zanker 31).
The garden paintings can actually date back to some Literature content. The Georgics is
a poem written by the Latin poet Virgil. In this poem, the author celebrates the peaceful life
and piety, and expresses his wish to escape from the chaos. He highly praises the abundant
land and nature by saying:
A breach, and deep into the solid grain
A path with wedges cloven; then fruitful slips
Are set herein, and- no long time- behold!
To heaven upshot with teeming boughs, the tree
Strange leaves admires and fruitage not its own (Virgil).
I think the exactly same message of pursuing the notion of “Otium” is conveying from
Roman garden paintings.
Roman people use garden paintings as a vehicle of cultural communication, thus promote
their power, awe, and pleasure towards nature to whoever appreciates them.
6 Reference
Jashemski, Wilhelmina F. The gardens of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the villas destroyed by
Vesuvius. Caratzas Brothers, 1979.
Katharine, T. The Roman garden: space, sense, and society. Routledge, 2009.
Ling, Roger. Roman painting. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Picard, G. Roman painting. New York: Elek Books, 1970.
Strong, Donald Emrys, and Jocelyn MC Toynbee. Roman art. Vol. 44. Yale University Press,
1995.
Turner, Tom. European gardens: history, philosophy and design. Routledge, 2011.
Zanker, Paul. The power of images in the age of Augustus. University of Michigan Press,
1990.
7 Figure.1 The Villa of Livia, Primaporta, ca. 30-20 BEC.
Figure.2 Hadrian`s Villa, Tivoli, ca. 125-128
Figure.3 House of Fruit
Orchard,
Pompeii,
ca.40-50
8 Figure.4 Villa of Agrippa Postumus,
Boscotrecase, ca. 10 BCE
9