Roman wall painting

The Roman wall painting (after the most important place of discovery also Roman-Pompeian wall painting ) is divided into different wall painting styles , which in the Roman Empire from the 3rd century BC. BC were in use until late antiquity , divided. Never before and never again in the history of mankind have murals been so widespread. They can be found in the homes of the rich, but also in small residential buildings in the deepest provinces, from Britain to Egypt , from Pannonia ( Hungary ) to Morocco .

Partial view of the Aldobrandini wedding , Rome, Augustan

Painting in the Vesuvius cities

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 caused a shower of ash over the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum , which buried the paintings there . Protected until they were exposed in modern times, these works have been preserved comparatively well and therefore serve as the starting point for most studies of Roman wall painting.

Pompeii was rediscovered by Domenico Fontana at the end of the 16th century . Fontana dug a tunnel into the forum , but did not realize that he had come across the remains of Pompeii. At the beginning of the 18th century, the excavations were continued by Prince d'Elboeuf. He, too, worked arbitrarily and dug without having any idea what ancient place he was in. Only Charles III. , King of Naples and Sicily , had targeted excavations carried out. In 1735 work began in Herculaneum, and 10 years later excavations took place again in Pompeii. By Joseph and Caroline Bonaparte (siblings Napoleon ), the succession to the throne of Naples and promoted the excavations, they experienced a new upswing. In the 19th century, the Italian King Victor Emanuel II made Giuseppe Fiorelli the head of the excavation. He initiated systematic excavations for the first time: the rubble was removed, the houses were numbered and divided into regions (districts) and insulae (apartment blocks).

See also : Pompeii # rediscovery and modern exploration

Styles

In 1882 August Mau divided the wall painting from Pompeii into four styles until the city was buried in 79:

• 1st style / masonry or incrustation style: circa 200 to 80 BC Chr.
• 2. Style / architectural or illusionary style: around 100 to 15 BC Chr.
• 3. Style / ornamental style: circa 15 BC. Chr. To 50 AD
• 4th style / fantasy style: AD 50 to 79

These styles were developed on the basis of the findings in Pompeii, but they reflect artistic developments in all of Roman wall painting and can therefore also be found in other places. Vitruvius's historically ordered descriptions of the various types of painterly wall decoration, which led to the differentiations between style 1 and 2, were the basis for approaches to classifying them . The transitions between the four phases are fluid, so that the time information can only be approximate.

techniques

Most paintings were created with a mixture of fresco - and tempera or encaustic made. Plaster was applied to the walls in several layers, although the number of layers could vary. In general, earlier paintings and those in richer houses show more layers than later ones and those in less wealthy residential buildings. Starting from above, the plaster layers and then the paintings were applied to the wall and finished at the bottom. More elaborate paintings were also polished.

Wall construction

The walls are built according to the same scheme, despite great variations in detail. There is always a base zone, a middle zone and an upper zone. The base zone is usually rather simple, it can be monochrome, but it can also have imitations of marble or simple paintings of plants. Geometric patterns are also very popular. In the central zone, on the other hand, the main weight of the painting unfolds. Here, depending on the style, you will find elaborate architecture or simple fields, whereby the center of the wall was usually given special weight and was adorned with a painting. Field paintings, which were particularly widespread from the 3rd (ornamental) style onwards, consist of an alternation of broad, single-colored and narrow fields, often richly decorated with plants, unreal architecture or other patterns. Light architectures like to be found in the upper zone. The upper zone is absent from many simple wall paintings in the provinces.

Ceiling paintings, which are much less well preserved than those on the walls, follow two basic types. There are simple patterns, especially circles or cassettes, which are repeated endlessly or the ceiling is composed towards a center point, often with a figure.

With a few findings, a uniform composition of floor design, wall and ceiling can also be technically proven and linked to the written records.

1. Style: masonry style

Wall in Herculaneum

In the 1st style, masonry style or (according to Mau) incrustation style, the construction and appearance of monumental ashlar walls were imitated on the walls by means of colored painting, scratching or plastic design (stucco). In the narrower sense it is not yet a painting style. Geometry played an important role and was created here by incised lines. Three-dimensionality was created through light and shadow reflections. The style generally mimicked Hellenistic architecture : the wall has a base , a high rectangular central zone and a continuous upper zone.

The slabs of the imitated blocks were designed at the edges as if they were actually hewn stone blocks that are integrated into the wall. The joint cut can be clearly seen. In the upper wall area, the adjacent fields at the corners were painted with high-contrast colors.

Examples: Rooms in Casa di Sallustio, Casa del Fauno.

2. Style: architectural style

Wall in the House of Augustus in Rome

The 2nd style of Roman wall painting is also called the architectural style . From 80 to 20 BC An architectural background was painted on the smooth wall. The wall was dissolved and enlarged by means of axially symmetrical pseudo-architecture or views into landscapes and megalographies . The architectural style drew its models strongly from the Hellenistic-Roman theater . The mature Second Style can be seen well in the House of Augustus .

The base zone is usually designed dark, while the central zone appears light. The most common colors are dark red, dark green, black and yellow. Yellow was used for architectural elements, blue and green for details.

The style can be divided into different sub-phases. The oldest example of this style in Rome can be found in the Casa dei Grifi on the Palatine Hill and dates from around 80 BC. The decoration is still strongly reminiscent of the first style. The wall is painterly structured by marble slabs. A novelty, however, are painted columns set in front of the wall. The wall appears to have two layers.

In a further phase of style, the wall is suddenly broken through. In the side rooms of the Mystery Villa in Pompeii there are murals, which in the upper third show a view of the buildings behind. Usually temples become visible.

In the Boscoreale villa , the wall is completely dissolved. The walls are structured by columns and show views of landscapes or temples.

Further innovations can be observed in the late Second Style. The walls are still architecturally structured, but now there is often a central picture with a view, not of a building, but of a mythological landscape. At the very end of the style, a flattening of the walls can be observed. The wall is closed again and there is only the central central picture. The architectures that were previously realistic are now enriched with unreal figures. Well-known examples are the paintings in the Casa della Farnesina and in the Aula Isiaca . These innovations were not welcomed by all contemporaries. Vitruvius criticizes the depiction of unreal figures and architectures: But everything that is based on real things is now falsely rejected, because it is preferable to paint monsters on the plaster rather than faithful images of certain things.

3. Style: Ornamental style

Wall in the house of Lucretius Fronto, Pompeii, Tablinum

In the third or ornamental style , the room depth was reduced again. The surface of the wall serves as an image carrier and is structured horizontally and vertically. The main zone of the wall is usually divided into different, completely flat fields (field decoration) . A central picture usually shows a landscape view with a mythological theme . The upper zone of the wall with its ornamental decoration plays the dominant role. Sometimes there are also architectures here, but they are far from having the plasticity of the 2nd style. Therefore, this style is often called the ornament style . The candelabra style represents a subgroup of the 3rd style . It is named after the frequent use of the candelabra as a popular decorative motif . Instead of columns, delicate candelabra frame the picture fields. It stands at the transition from the 2nd to the 3rd style. While the walls are usually very flat, the candelabra are painted very vividly.

This style reached its peak in wall painting in the years 15 BC. Chr. To 50 AD

Typical examples of this style are the Villa Farnesina in Rome , the Villa of Boscotrecase , the Villa Imperiale , the House of the Ceii in Pompeii and the Villa of the Poppaea in Oplontis . The house of Marcus Lucretius Fronto in Pompeii is the best example of the late phase of the 3rd style.

4. Style: fantasy style

Herculaneum, basilica

The fantasy style or 4th style is the most independent style of Roman-Pompeian wall painting and combines elements from the previous styles. It begins around 40 or 50 AD and extends at least into the Flavian period . There are simple decorations in which fields are juxtaposed, but also complex architectures. The style is characterized by a wealth of ornamentation. The wall shows a painting in the middle picture. The side panels often show small floating figures. In addition, it reveals a view of “ baroque ” architectural elements. The style is utterly illusionistic: it contrasts the artificial world with the real one. White, red and black fields with stereotypical elements predominate ( scenographies ) . As a recourse to the 2nd style, the fantasy style has architectural elements. Elements of the 1st style are stucco reliefs . Filigree ornamental bands that can frame individual fields are also typical of this style.

There are also very simply designed walls that are reminiscent of the 3rd style and can only be recognized as belonging to the 4th style on certain ornaments. These walls are often found in less important rooms. Another innovation are wallpaper-like patterns. A certain motif was repeated endlessly on a wall.

The 4th style is associated with the name of the painter Fabullus . After Pliny the Elder, he painted the palace of Nero ( Domus Aurea ) in Rome. His style is described as flowery or sultry (interpretation of the text passage is uncertain, however). He also had a right to seriousness and severity. In the Domus Aurea, various designs can be found in the paintings. It is therefore impossible to assign certain images to him.

Examples are the Domus Aurea in Rome, the House of the Vettiers in Pompeii or the Macellum in Pompeii .

Post-Pompeian wall painting

The wall painting from the period after 79 AD is understandably far less known than those from the well-preserved cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The 4th style is attested even after the fall of Pompeii and obviously did not end with the fall of the city. The style is attested to around 100 AD. In the following periods, style levels can also be distinguished here. There wasn't really a new 5th style , however . The wall paintings in the following period repeated elements of the 4th styles. There are few radical innovations.

Hadrian wall painting

From this period (approx. 117 to 140 AD) there are different types of decoration. In the case of elaborate designs, the 2nd style was used during this period (e.g. Rome, Villa of Numisia Procula, Villa Negroni). There is the representation of fixed architectures, some of which have a large central image. Other walls of the Hadrianic period are still in the tradition of the 4th style. Finally, there are numerous walls (e.g. in Hadrian's Villa ) whose decoration has been reduced to simple surfaces. Geometric shapes are predominant here.

Antonine wall painting

Red and yellow wall from Ostia

Typical of this period (approx. 140 to 180 AD) are walls in the tradition of the 3rd style with columns in front and a particular preference for yellow walls with views in red (e.g. the Casa del Soffitto Dipinto) in Ostia . In addition, monochrome decorations were also very popular, the main decoration of which often consists of aedicules . After all, there are simple field decorations without any architecture. In general, a striving for harmony can be observed in wall painting, which is particularly in contrast to the following style period. From this time on, the figurative middle pictures lose more and more of their importance and in the following time become smaller and smaller and disappear completely.

Late Cantonese-Severan wall painting

This style period (approx. 180 to 240 AD) represents a break with the previous styles in many ways. An effort to create something new can be seen almost everywhere.

There is still a wide range of wall decorations. Architectural walls are mostly presented as simplified versions of the 4th style, whereby the architectures appear relatively solid and less playful than in the 4th style. Protruding pillars are very popular, each appearing as double pillars. Floating or standing figures appear in the fields between them. From this time on, everyday figures were used more and more frequently in wall painting. Rows of servant figures replaced mythological scenes. The representation of one's own prosperity seemed more important than that of the display of Greek education.

Field walls from this period are particularly noticeable because of their irregularity. While earlier field decorations were more concerned with symmetry, fields of different sizes were now often placed next to one another. Figures in fields that previously always stood within them now often break through the boundary lines. A particular innovation of this style period are walls in the red and green system of lines. The decoration of the wall is reduced to a network of lines. Figures are sparse and mostly painted very impressionistically. These decorations are mainly known from the Roman catacombs , but are not only attested in them (see e.g. The Villa Piccola under S. Sebastiano in Rome).

Late 3rd and 4th centuries

There were still a few architectural walls at this time, but they lost much of their plasticity. Often it was just a matter of depicting columns that divided the walls. Field decorations remained relatively popular, with marble decorations often mimicking walls. Decorations in the red-green system of lines occurred up to the 4th century and are noticeable by fewer and fewer ornaments. Finally, there were decorations in which small patterns were repeated endlessly, creating an effect that is similar to our wallpaper today.

There are a few paintings from the beginning of the Constantinian period that stand out due to their high plasticity and efforts to achieve spatial depth. They have a clearly classicistic character, without it being possible to identify a particular style as a model. Reddish-brown shades are also typical. The best known example is a ceiling of an imperial building in Trier, richly painted with erotes and figures . In the post-Constantine period, on the other hand, strongly impressionistic paintings dominated again, which again lost a lot of space.

From the time after the beginning of the 5th century AD, there are no other surviving examples of painted houses, although these have been documented in literature. In the period that followed, wall painting shifted to decorating churches etc.

Provincial Roman wall painting

The development of Roman wall painting in the provinces is more difficult to follow than in Italy, as there are few very well-preserved remains of wall paintings and the state of research on individual provinces is still very different. While the Roman wall paintings z. B. for Germany, Switzerland or Great Britain have been very well processed, there are no comprehensive studies for other provinces (e.g. North Africa), although it can be assumed with certainty that wall paintings were of the same importance everywhere.

France

Painting from Vienne

Saint-Romain-en-Gal, wrestler, 3rd century

The wall paintings from France in particular are well worked up and there is a comprehensive monograph by Alix Barbet. Perhaps not by chance, the oldest fragments that can be assigned to the 1st style come from Ile Sainte-Marguerite , an island that is the closest of the known sites to the Italian border. The few remaining fragments are painted stucco work, which shows imitations of marble, but also a frieze with dolphins. Various comparatively well-preserved examples of the 2nd style come from Glanum , also in the south of France. A painting from the House of Sulla ( maison de Sulla ) shows yellow fields, orthostats and small figures that support a cornice. Painted pilasters stand in front of this wall. Very similar wall decorations come from the house of the two Alcoves ( maison aux deux Alcôves ). Examples of the 2nd style are also known from other places such as Ensérune and Nimes . All of these places are in the south of France. Numerous examples of the 3rd style have been preserved and published. They come from almost all parts of the country. In Fréjus is an atrium house, the entire decoration program can be reconstructed relatively good place. Most of the rooms are furnished in the 3rd style. The walls are rather simple with red fields and green or black dividing fields. The upper zones are yellow. The base zones are dark red or black. From the middle of the first century there are also numerous paintings that are committed to the 4th style. There are also many paintings in the Gallic provinces that belong to the late 3rd style. The development in France was therefore in a different direction than in Italy. A black-ground wall decoration with candelabra comes from Vienne . The candelabra bear erots and birds, the painting shows elements of the 3rd style, but overall looks overloaded and is reminiscent of the 4th style. There are numerous wall paintings with filigree decorative ribbons, as are typical of the 4th style. Architectural walls, however, as they are otherwise attested in the 4th style, are not well attested.

Various types of wall decorations have survived from the 2nd century. There are still numerous examples of candelabra walls. Architectures are now more frequently attested. Numerous paintings on a light background are an innovation. Comparatively few paintings can be dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries. Different walls with large figures are remarkable. Four panels with figures depicting athletes come from a thermal bath in Saint-Romain-en-Gal . There are also examples of paintings with elaborate architecture reminiscent of the 2nd style from the Severan period.

Roman wall painting in the northwestern provinces

Painted barrel vault in the Roman villa in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

The wall painting of this area (Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium) is well worked up. For some cities ( Cologne , Xanten ) and regions ( Switzerland , northern Upper Germany ,) there are now monographs in which all finds of wall paintings have been treated. The material base is therefore broad, even if there are comparatively few really well-preserved wall paintings. Many reconstructions of decorations are therefore unsafe.

The sparse oldest remains of wall paintings in this area belong to the 3rd style and are partly of high quality and very closely related to Italian models. Apparently painters also came to the newly conquered areas with the Roman troops and established their own painting workshops. In the following period, however, these workshops broke away from the models in Italy. The wall paintings in this area developed their own repertoire. In the period that followed, candelabra walls were particularly popular, field walls are just as common, while architecture is nowhere near as common as in Italy. The 4th style is therefore also present in these provinces, but often only recognizable by the typical filigree ornamental bands (e.g. Augsburg , Thermen Windisch AG (Switzerland) Vidy (Switzerland)), Rübenach (district of Koblenz ), which do not spread like found in Italy. The 4th style was continued in the Hadrianic period and thereafter, but the walls are simpler. There are no longer so many playful ornaments. Field decorations are still predominant, but there are also candelabra walls. Architectures are very rarely attested. At the end of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd century, the candelabra walls then disappeared. Field decorations were now predominant, with some very colorful examples on the one hand, but also rather simply designed walls, the decoration of which was painted in red lines on a white background (e.g. villa in Schwangau , Ostallgäu). Decorations in a wallpaper style can also be found throughout the 2nd century.

Due to the constant incursions of Teutons in these provinces from the 2nd half of the 3rd century, this area became impoverished. Only a few examples of wall paintings date from the following period.

Hungary

Detail from a ceiling fresco discovered in 1992 in ancient Brigetio ( Komárom ) in Hungary, late 2nd century AD.

Due to a good state of research, the paintings are well known in this country. The finds seem to show that this province followed strongly Italian models at the beginning. A Roman villa was found near Nemesvamos-Balacapuszta, whose magnificent paintings in the 4th style are hardly inferior to examples from Pompeii. In the so-called black-purple room there are floating figures in fields, which are framed by architectural views. Centaurs and fully sculpted candelabra appear on the architecture in the side panels. Paintings that were found in Budapest are stylistically reminiscent of those from Parthian art and may indicate soldiers from this area. The wall paintings from the governor's palace there, which date back to the fourth century, are typical of their time with their marble imitations.

Roman wall painting in the province of Britannia

The painting of this province is also well done. In contrast to the other northwestern provinces, Britannia largely followed the developments in Italy. This may come as a surprise at first, but the province was conquered relatively late. The painter's workshops founded here never developed their own style to the extent that z. B. happened in Germania. So there is good evidence from the second century for architectural walls and also for those in red and yellow color design.

Roman wall painting in the east of the empire

3rd century painting from Ephesus, field decoration depicting muses

The development of wall painting as a whole is relatively difficult to follow in the east of the empire and has not yet been dealt with. In Ephesus there were numerous examples in the hillside houses . They represent the largest corpus of wall paintings from the east of the empire so far. Here there are walls that are painted in the 4th style and red-yellow walls from the Antonine period, which show a style similar to that in Italy. Most of the paintings found there date to the third century AD and show field walls on a light background. The emergency excavations in Zeugma produced numerous new finds of wall paintings that date to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Here mainly field decorations were found on a light background with large, individual figures, each occupying a field. The decoration schemes are comparable to those of Ephesus. The figures often have Greek inscriptions, as was more typical in the Hellenistic world. One wall shows life-size servant figures on a red background between simple architectures. It dates to around 200 AD and is comparable to a wall in Rome (in the Domus Praeconum ) at about the same time . Decorations of the 1st style come from Athens and Delos . There are examples of the 2nd style from Petra and from the Masada . In Sabratha there are examples of elaborate paintings, probably from the Hadrian era, based on the 2nd style.

North africa

Only the wall paintings from Tunisia have been systematically processed so far. Here, too, there are numerous paintings that can be linked to the styles in Italy. The oldest paintings can be assigned to the 3rd style and come from Carthage. Other paintings in Carthage show ornamental ribbons as they are known from the fourth style. In the Maison de la Ronde there were other examples that can clearly be assigned to the 4th style. These are the remains of painted candelabras. Most of the paintings from Tunisia date to the second century AD.

Generally one has the impression that at least large urban centers followed the development in Italy. In detail, however, there may have been in-house developments, as evidenced by the idiosyncratic paintings in the 2nd style from Petra , which can be assigned to this style, but differ in design from the paintings from Italy.

Single images and special forms

Landscape painting and garden landscapes

Landscape to the Odyssey, approx. 50 BC Chr.

Harbor, fresco from Stabiae

There is evidence of garden landscapes in all periods. A room was painted completely like a garden. Most of the time this garden is fenced in by a low wall, through which one could look into it. The garden is usually richly populated with birds. Sometimes there are depictions of fountains and statues. In the case of some Pompeian houses, one gets the impression that these garden landscapes replaced a garden with statues that would not otherwise exist in the house. The garden landscapes have been occupied since the 2nd style and can only be assigned to a style in small details. The paintings in the Casa dei Cubicoli floreali come from e.g. B. from the time of the 3rd style and are therefore rather flat, while the landscapes of the 2nd and 4th style are very concerned with spatial depth.

The depiction of landscapes has been well documented since the Second Style, for example in the Odyssey landscapes that were excavated in a house on the Esquiline in Rome. They represent parts of the Odyssey . The approximately 1.60 meter high murals show Odysseus and other heroic figures in a landscape that dominates the representation. Rocks, trees, palaces are depicted in an impressionistic style. A painter named Ludius is said to have been active under Augustus , whom Pliny the Elder expressly mentions in his natural history as the inventor of landscape paintings. He painted country houses, porticos, landscaped gardens, forests, hills, fish ponds, canals, rivers and coast, these pictures being populated with people. His motifs also included villas and seaside towns, as found in Pompeii and other Vesuvius cities.

Mythological images

The central image of a wall usually formed a mythological image, other motifs as a central image are comparatively rare. The picture is usually upright rectangular. Such pictures only appear in the last phase of the 2nd style and are more typical for elaborate painting, while simpler ones often do without such pictures. Most of these pictures were probably copies of Greek panel pictures , but they followed their models rather loosely and were changed according to taste, so that there can be different versions of a single picture that differ significantly. It happened again and again that other characters, such as small erotes or spectators, were arranged around the main characters.

Significant developments can also be identified in these mythological images, depending on the style. In the 2nd style the figures usually act in a clearly reproduced landscape, while in the 3rd style this is often only hinted at and full attention is paid to the figures. The representation of the landscape becomes more important again in the 4th style. From this time in particular there are also a lot of artistically rather undemanding pictures, which is perhaps simply due to the chance of preservation. Mythological images are documented up to the 4th century, but already lost importance in the Antonine period. The pictures are getting smaller and smaller within the wall and no longer occupy the central position they had before. In the provinces these pictures are also occupied, but seem to be more rare.

Everyday representations

In addition to the mythological images, depictions of everyday life take up a large space. These are rarely found in the murals in living rooms, but often in shops or cookshops , where they served as advertising media. These everyday depictions are often rather clumsy stylistically and therefore differ significantly from the mythological scenes. Erotic representations in brothels certainly belong in a similar context. These are also often kept rather simple stylistically.

Other representations

From the 4th style, floating figures painted in the fields next to the main pictures are very popular. Most of the time, these are figures from mythology. In their place, small landscape pictures could also be used, which sometimes also represented the main picture of a wall. These landscapes, among which the depictions of villas were very popular, are often very sketchy, painted impressionistically, but have a special charm as a result. They could even occupy an entire wall, especially in the back garden of a house. In addition to these pictures, still lifes are very popular. In thermal baths one often finds the representation of water with the fish swimming in it and some dining rooms also make a visual reference to banquets.

Decoration and room function

It can certainly be assumed that many of the paintings refer to the function of the room and also reflect the taste and financial possibilities of the client. In general, it can be stated that side rooms were designed much less expensively than representation rooms. The connection between painted subjects and the function of the room is surprisingly rarely really clear. Still lifes and Dionysian scenes were often used in banqueting rooms, but other themes also occur here and these scenes can also be found in rooms that were certainly not banqueting rooms. In the Macellum , the fish and meat market of Pompeii, there are fish in the top register of the paintings, which clearly refer to the function of the building. In the main zone, on the other hand, there are mythological images such as Argos and Io or Odysseus and Penelope . The connection to the function of the building is difficult to understand.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ From the 3rd century BC. Until the 4th century AD, wall painting was present in all areas of life throughout the Roman Empire: in temples as well as in public and private buildings - not only in the villas of the wealthy, but also in the simplest rooms - and in the tombs . All these buildings were designed with an almost inexhaustible imagination. Quote from Mielsch: Roman wall painting. 2001, blurb.
2. ↑ Vitruvius 7,5,1–4, see also Hendrik G. Beyen: The Pompeian wall decoration from the second to the fourth style. Volume 2, part 1. Nijhoff, Haag 1960, passim
3. ↑ Cornelius Steckner : Floor, Wall and Ceiling: Archaeological Findings and Design Analysis of Ancient Rooms. In: Eric M. Moormann (Ed.): Functional and Spatial Analysis of Wall Painting. Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress of Ancient Wall Painting, Amsterdam, September 8-12, 1992 (= Bulletin antieke beschaving. Supplement. 3). Stichting Babesch, Leiden 1993, ISBN 90-72821-03-3 , pp. 194-204.
4. ↑ Vitruvius 7.5.3; Translation: Volker Michael Strocka: The Second Style. In: Giuseppina Cerulli Irelli, Masanori Aoyahi, Stefano De Caro, Umberto Pappalardo (eds.): Pompeian wall painting. Belser, Stuttgart / Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-7630-1949-9 , p. 222.
5. ↑ metmuseum.org
6. ↑ Wilhelmus J. Th. Peters: La casa di Marcus Lucretius Fronto a Pompei e le sue pitture (= Scrinium. 5). Thesis Publishers, Amsterdam 1993, ISBN 90-5170-163-2 .
7. ^ Mielsch: Roman wall painting. 2001, pp. 83-85.
8. ↑ the following remarks follow, Mielsch: Römische Wandmalerei. 2001, pp. 93-138.
9. ↑ Dimitris Plantzos: The Art of Painting in Ancient Greece. Kapon, Athens 2018, ISBN 978-618-5209-20-9 , p. 343.
10. ^ Regio II - Insula VI - Casa del Soffitto Dipinto (II, VI, 5-6).
11. ^ Mielsch: Roman wall painting. 2001, pp. 101-106.
12. ^ Mielsch: Roman wall painting. 2001, pp. 107-122.
13. ^ Regio IV - Insula II - Caupona del Pavone (IV, II, 6).
14. ↑ It is a very simplified and stylized variant of the simultaneous field walls. vatican.va
15. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from February 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
16. ↑ Alix Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , Picard: Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7084-0757-2
17. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 37-39
18. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 40–43
19. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 43–46
20. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 73-76
21. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , p. 105
22. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 123-124
23. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 188–190
24. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , p. 191
25. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , p. 262
26. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , p. 267
27. ↑ Barbet: La peinture murale en Gaule Romaine , pp. 191, 280-281
28. ^ Renate Thomas : Roman wall painting in Cologne (= Cologne research. 6). von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1993, ISBN 3-8053-1351-9 .
29. ↑ Brita Jansen, Charlotte Schreiter, Michael cell: The Roman wall paintings from the urban area of ​​Colonia Ulpia Traina. Volume 1: The finds from private buildings (= Xanten reports , Volume 11). von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2873-7 .
30. ↑ Drack: The Roman wall painting of Switzerland. 1950.
31. ↑ Gogräfe: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings in the northern Upper Germany. 1999.
32. ↑ Example of a wall painting in the 3rd style, Commugny (Switzerland)
33. ^ Nina Willburger : The Roman wall painting in Augsburg (= Augsburg contributions to archeology , Volume 4). Wißner, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-89639-441-X , pp. 40, 50, 58, (also: Jena, Universität, dissertation, 2002).
34. ↑ Drack: The Roman wall painting of Switzerland. 1950, pp. 120-29, plate VII.
35. ↑ Drack: The Roman wall painting of Switzerland. 1950, p. 115, fig. 116, 117
36. ↑ Günther Krahe , Gisela Zahlhaas : Roman wall paintings in Schwangau district. Ostallgäu (= material booklets on Bavarian prehistory. Series A: Find inventories and excavation findings. Volume 43). Lassleben, Kallmünz 1984, ISBN 3-7847-5043-5 .
37. ^ Edit B. Thomas : Roman villas in Pannonia. Contributions to the Pannonian settlement history. Akademiai Kiadó, Budapest 1964, plate XXIX – XXXV.
38. ^ Edit B. Thomas: Roman villas in Pannonia. Contributions to the Pannonian settlement history. Akademiai Kiadó, Budapest 1964, p. 229, fig. 117.
39. ↑ Example: Painting from London ( Memento from April 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Archived website of the Museum of London Archeology Service (MoLAS)
40. ↑ Volker Michael Strocka : The wall painting of the hillside houses in Ephesos (= research in Ephesos. 8, 1, ZDB -ID 1011986-3 ). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1977.
41. ↑ Alix Barbet (ed.): Zeugma II: peintures murales romaines , Institut français d'études anatoliennes Georges Dumézil, Istanbul, de Boccard, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-906053-88-0
42. ↑ Barbet: Zeugma II: peintures murales romaines , p. 31.
43. ↑ Wirth: wall painting. 1934, p. 25, fig. 5.
44. ↑ Ida Baldassarre, Angela Pontrandolfo, Agnès Rouveret, Monica Salvadori: Pittura romana. Dall'ellenismo al tardo antico. Motta, Milan 2002, ISBN 88-7179-329-3 , p. 70.
45. ↑ Ida Baldassarre, Angela Pontrandolfo, Agnès Rouveret, Monica Salvadori: Pittura romana. Dall'ellenismo al tardo antico. Motta, Milan 2002, ISBN 88-7179-329-3 , fig. on p. 117.
46. ↑ Ida Baldassarre, Angela Pontrandolfo, Agnès Rouveret, Monica Salvadori: Pittura romana. Dall'ellenismo al tardo antico. Motta, Milan 2002, ISBN 88-7179-329-3 , pp. 330-331.
47. ↑ Alix Barbet: Peintures romaines de Tunisie. Picard, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-7084-0944-6 .
48. ↑ Barbet: Peintures romaines de Tunisie. P. 32–33 (exact location is unknown)
49. ↑ Barbet: Peintures romaines de Tunisie. P. 39–40 ( maison du Cryptoportique )
50. ↑ Barbet: Peintures romaines de Tunisie. Pp. 38-39.
51. ↑ Dimitris Plantzos: The Art of Painting in Ancient Greece. Kapon, Athens 2018, ISBN 978-618-5209-20-9 , pp. 293-295.
52. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 116-117 (35.43).
53. ↑ Plantzos: The Art of Painting in Ancient Greece. 332-335.

literature

The literature on Roman wall paintings seems endless. Each new excavation in Roman places also brings new finds of wall paintings. The following list is therefore a very short selection. Regarding the houses in Pompeii, however, the series Houses in Pompeii should be mentioned , which is published by Volker M. Strocka and in each volume represents a house with a special view of the wall paintings.

• Hendrik G. Beyen: The Pompeian wall decoration from the second to the fourth style. 2 (in 4) volumes. Nijhoff, Haag 1938–1960, (the publication, which was laid out in several volumes, should include all styles; however, the author has only worked up the 2nd style in two monumental volumes).
• Norman Davey, Roger Ling: Wall-painting in Roman Britain (= Britannia. Monograph Series. 3, ISSN  0953-542X ). Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, London 1982, (monograph on paintings in Great Britain).
• Walter Drack : The Roman wall painting of Switzerland (= monographs on the prehistory and early history of Switzerland. 8, ISSN  1012-6295 ). Birkhäuser, Basel 1950, (monograph on Roman wall painting in Switzerland, one of the first to cover an entire area).
• Wolfgang Ehrhardt : Stylistic studies on Roman wall paintings. From the late republic to the time of Nero. von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0919-8 (studies on the 3rd style).
• Rüdiger Gogräfe: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings in northern Upper Germany (= Foundation for the promotion of Palatinate historical research. Series C: Archaeological research in the Palatinate. 2). Self-published by the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1999, ISBN 3-9805635-2-9 (monograph on Roman wall painting in a region).
• Nathaniel B. Jones: Painting, Ethics, and Aesthetics in Rome. Greek culture in the Roman world. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York 2019.
• Anne Laidlaw: The First Style in Pompeii. Painting and Architecture (= Archaeologica. 57). Bretschneider, Rome 1985, ISBN 88-7689-087-4 .
• Katharina Lorenz : Pictures create spaces. Mythical images in Pompeian houses. (= Image & context. Volume 5). De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019473-9 .
• August Mau : History of decorative wall painting in Pompeii. 2 volumes. G. Reimer, Berlin 1882, ( Digitalisat Textbd. Digitalisat Tafelbd .; The basic work for the division into four styles).
• Harald Mielsch : Roman wall painting. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 3-534-01360-3 (general overview of Roman wall painting in Italy).
• Donatella Mazzoleni , Umberto Pappalardo: Pompeian wall painting. Architecture and illusionistic decoration. Hirmer, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7774-2445-5 .
• Karl Schefold (Ed.): Forgotten Pompeii. Unpublished pictures of Roman wall decorations in a historical sequence (= Swiss Spiritual Science Society. Writings. 4, ZDB -ID 1472639-7 ). Francke, Bern a. a. 1962, (work outdated in the theses, but richly illustrated).
• Fritz Wirth: Roman wall painting. From the fall of Pompeii to the end of the 3rd century. Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin 1934, (first monograph dedicated to post-Pompeian painting).

Web links

Commons : Roman Wall Painting  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Theatricalism In The Roman House (English)
• Roman Painting: Frescoes From Campania (English)
• Roman wall painting, development and technology ( Memento from December 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• Dissolution and becoming in Roman Wall-Painting

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 6, 2007 .