Roman Wall Painting

Roman Wall Painting �

The Fine Art of Roman
Wall Painting

Roman wall painting is described as having four distinct styles, identified from the wall paintings found at Pompeii, Herculaneum, Boscoreal and other cities buried under the volcanic ash of Mt. Vesuvius.� Roman mosaics either imitated the painting styles or became very abstract.

The First Style Roman wall painting,
"Incrustation" (right) is thought
to imitate Greek painting that created flat areas of color and 'faux" finishes (like a fake marble or oak finish).

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"Young Woman with a Stylus," fresco from Pompeii, 1st Century ce.	"Peaches and Glass Jar," still life fresco from Herculaneum, c.50 ce. Museo Nazionale Arcologico, Naples� See Gardner text, Page 264

In the second style Roman wall painting, called the "architectural style," space extends beyond the room with various perspective ("illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat two-dimensional surface)� devices.� Roman artists came close to developing a true linear perspective.


Painting from the "Villa of Mysteries," Pompeii, thought to portray initiation into the mysterious Dionysion cult.� See a different view, Gardner text, Page 259.	Detail from the Villa of Mysteries, Second Style Roman Wall Painting.


Fresco from Boscoreale, in the "Second Style," to recreate and extend reality.	Bedroom in the villa of Publius Fannius Synistor, from Boscoreale outside Pompeii.� Preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	Detail from Boscoreale, c.40 bce, also known as the "Late Republican Style."

Detail from the "Garden Scene," Second Style Roman wall painting

The two images here are from the "Garden Scene" below, a fresco in the Second Style.� To the left, a heron and thrush are in an oleander bush amid flowering trees.� To the right, a nightingale perches in a rose bush.�

Below, the entire Garden Scene from the House of Livia at Primaporta, c. late 1st Century, bce.� Artists used wet and dry plaster (fresco) infused with powdered marble and alabaster to create a luster.� The intent of the artist was a near photorealism.

In the Third Style Roman Wall Painting, called the "Ornate Style," pictorial illusion is confined to "framed" images, where even the "framing" is painted on.� The overall appearance is flat rather than a 3-d illusion of space.

Third Style from the Villa at Boscotrecase, near Pompeii. 1st Century.
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Museo Nazionale, Naples

The Fourth Style Roman Wall Painting, called the "Intricate Style," confines full three-dimensional illusion to the "framed images," which are placed like pictures in an exhibition.� The images themselves do not relate to one another nor do they present a narrative, as in the Second Style.

The Fourth Style is also characterized by the open vistas and the use of aerial perspective, as well as the elaborate architectural framing.

Ixion Room from the House of the Vetii, Pompeii,
1st Century.�

Mosaicists used small pieces of colored stone and ceramics as covers for walls and floors.� Ceramic mosaic pieces are called "tesserae."


Detail, Head of a Woman (Venus?) from the 4th Century ce, from a mosaic floor at a Roman villa in Zippori, Israel.�	Mosaic "Allegory of Africa," from a Roman villa at Piazza Armerina, Sicily, c.4th Century, ce.

Page Updated 8/28/06

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