1. Roman Painting
•The only large body of ancient painting
•Has only come to light in modern times
•Almost all are wall paintings and span only about 200 years
•Since there are no Greek examples left, it is hard to know
what are Greek copies and what are truly Roman in nature

2. Innovations in Roman Painting…
•Fresco paintings used to liven up
windowless CUBICULA (bedrooms)
•Paintings of mythological scenes,
landscapes, and city plazas
•Mosaics as floor decoration- stone kept
feet cool in summer
•ENCAUSTIC technique (from Egypt)-
portraits of the dead
•Murals painted with some knowledge of
LINEAR PERSPECTIVE
•Spatial relationships in landscape
paintings appear somewhat consistent
•ORTHOGONALS recede to multiple
VANISHING POINTS in distance
•ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE used –
far distance, cool pastel colors
•Figures FORESHORTENED (seen at
oblique angle, recede into space)
•What we know, we learned from
Pompeii…
atmospheric
linear

3. 1st
Pompeian Style- Characterized by
painted squares/rectangles meant to
resemble marble facing

4. 2nd
Pompeian Style- Large mythological
scenes and/or landscapes dominating the
wall surface. Painted decoration of the 1st
style appears beneath in horizontal bands (1st
style- faux marble)

5. Dionysiac Mystery Frieze,
VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES
Pompeii. Wall painting. c. 60-50 BCE.
2nd
Pompeian style

6. Boscoreale Frescoes, HOUSE OF PUBLIUS FANNIUS SYNISTOR, 50-40 BCE.•From an aristocratic villa outside Pompeii
•2nd
Style Pompeian art with 1st
Style masonry
panels at the bottom
•Wall paintings open up spaces to reveal
painted versions of great vistas
•Great architectural views feature colonnaded
atria, distant landscapes, and architectural
visions
•Cooler colors are used to show architecture
receding into background
•Central THOLOS in center of columned
atrium, fronted by pediment
•Maze-like. No solid grasp of perspective yet

7. 3rd
Pompeian Style- Characterized by small
scenes set in a field of color and framed by
delicate columns of tracery
A PAINTER AT WORK
From the House of the
Surgeon, Pompeii. 1st
century BCE-1st century CE.
Fresco, 17-7/8" × 17-3/8”

8. 4th
Pompeian Style- Combined
elements of other three styles
-painted marble at the base (1st
style)
-large scenes of 2nd
style
-delicate small scenes of 3rd
style
all intricately interwoven

9. WALL PAINTING IN THE
"IXION ROOM," HOUSE OF
THE VETTII
Pompeii. Rebuilt 62-79 CE.
•Illusionistic architectural scenes
and window effects
•Sought to push back the wall
surfaces
•“4th style”
•Prevailed about the time of the
eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD
•This example has faux marble,
panel pictures that are meant to
look like they are set into the wall
•Gives off an unreal quality, similar
to theater backdrops
•Greek mythology scenes
1st
(“marble” rectangles)
2nd
(mythological scenes and/or
landscapes)
3rd
(small scenes in field of color,
delicately framed)

10. STILL LIFE WITH PEACHES, fresco from
Herculaneum. Detail of a wall painting. 50 CE.
Approx. 1'2" × 1'-1/2”
•Arrangement of peaches,
stem, and half-filled pitcher
of water
•Concentration on the
different textures of the
surfaces, roundness of the
peaches and pitcher
•Reflective surface of glass is
emphasized
•Composition emphasizes
curves
•Delight in showing how light
plays on a given surface
•Shows interest in creating
spatial depth as represented
on the water pitcher

11. …and here are a few more Roman
paintings thrown in for fun…

12. The Laestrygonians Hurling Rocks at the Fleet of Odysseus,
Rome, late 1st century BCE
•Very atmospheric,
less concerned with
spatial depth
•More poetic than
structurally correct

13. PORTRAIT OF A MARRIED COUPLE
Wall painting from Pompeii. Mid 1st century CE. Height 25-1/2”

14. •Very detailed garden scene- any
form of depth has been ignored
•All details are very close to the
viewer -very limited spatial depth
GARDEN VISTA, VILLA OF LIVIA AT PRIMAPORTA
Near Rome. Late 1st century BCE.
detail

15. Hercules and Telephus, Herculaneum, 70 CE
•Very disjointed looking- forms,
brushwork vary between figures
•One figure looks static and
immobile, while the other is more
fluid

16. Portrait of a Boy, lower Egypt, 2nd century CE
•According to texts, there were many
examples of portraits in Rome related to
ancestor worship, but none have
survived
•More were found in the Egyptian part
of the empire (Egyptians added portraits
with mummies)
•Done on a wood panel with encaustic
(freshness of color)
• Very lifelike and solid
•Emphasis on eyes

17. Consecration of the Tabernacle and its Priests, synagogue at Dura-Europos, 3rd
century CE
•3rd century brought spread of eastern religions – much different than Christianity
(such as Islam) - gave birth to a new style of art that fused Greco-Roman with
Eastern
•Dura-Europos: Roman town- Jews were effected by the melting pot of art- depicted
biblical scenes on the walls of synagogues (even though this was rarely ever done)
•No action or story, but an assembly of figures- more symbolic than narrative, echoes
of Roman painting- cast shadows, classical architecture-serves as a link to Medieval

18. FIN