Iconography and Social Practice in the Domestic Sphere

This chapter examines the role of images in the Roman domestic sphere, focusing on the contribution of paintings, mosaics, and other forms of representation to the construction of the Roman house as a place of self-representation and social interaction. Images were essential to the purposes of both shaping the environmental quality of domestic spaces and informing visitors about their character, function, and the behavior that was required from them. The case study of an apparently minor genre of Roman wall painting, that of still-life pictures (i.e., images of food and silverware), allows in-depth discussion of how the choice and understanding of subject matters depended on and relied upon shared mechanisms of recognition, as well as a tight semantics of meanings, values, and habits.

Wall paintings through the ages: the roman period—Republic and early Empire

This paper aims at presenting an overview of Roman wall painting production between late Republic and the early Empire. It will focus on the technique and style of in situ wall paintings from the Vesuvian area (Italy). Frescoes are indeed an integral part of architecture and reflect the patrons’ ambitions and social level as well as the craftsmen’s technical know-how. Since this is a handicraft product, the quality of materials, the craftsmen’s skills and the technique are fundamental to understand the fresco’s value and the message that the patron wished to communicate through the use of elaborate schemes, expensive colours or certain mythological themes.

Pigments on Roman Wall Painting and Stucco Fragments from the Monte d’Oro Area (Rome): A Multi-Technique Approach

This work concerns the characterisation of a set of wall painting and stucco fragments collected during a rescue excavation carried out in 2013 by the Soprintendenza Archeologica in the Monte d’Oro area (Rome). Due to the contextless archaeological situation, analyses were performed to obtain more information about the collected materials. A multi-analytical approach has been applied including spectroscopic (FTIR, Raman and visible reflectance analyses) and elemental analysis (SEM-EDS) techniques. The chromatic palette has been in this way disclosed evidencing the use of pigments such as cinnabar, Egyptian blue, red and yellow ochre and green earth, but also the simultaneous use of them. The presence of a decoration achieved by using a gold leaf has been highlighted also, indicating the preciousness of the decorations. The convenience and advantages linked to the use of portable instrumentation have been also evidenced.

Circling Round Vitruvius, Linear Perspective, and the Design of Roman Wall Painting

Many scholars believe that linear perspective existed in classical antiquity, but a fresh examination of two key texts in Vitruvius shows that 1.2.2 is about modularity and symmetria, while 7.Pr.11 describes shading (skiagraphia). Moreover, these new interpretations are firmly based on the classical understanding of optics and the history of painting (e.g., Pliny the Elder). A third text (Philostratus, Imagines 1.4.2) suggests that the design of Roman wall painting depends on concentric circles. Philostratus’ system is then used to successfully make facsimiles of five walls, representing Styles II, III, and IV of Roman wall painting. Hence, linear perspective and its relatives, such as Panofsky’s vanishing vertical axis, should not be imposed retrospectively where they never existed.

Applications of Photogrammetric Modeling to Roman Wall Painting: A Case Study in the House of Marcus Lucretius

Across many sites in Italy today, wall paintings face particular dangers of damage and destruction. In Pompeii, many extant fragments are open to the air and accessible to tourists. While efforts are underway to preserve the precious few examples that have come down to us today, after excavation even new finds begin to decay from the moment they are exposed to the air. Digital photogrammetry has been used for the documentation, preservation, and reconstruction of archaeological sites, small objects, and sculpture. Photogrammetry is also well-suited to the illustration and reconstruction of Roman wall painting and Roman domestic interiors. Unlike traditional photography, photogrammetry can offer three-dimensional (3D) documentation that captures the seams, cracks, and warps in the structure of the wall. In the case of an entire room, it can also preserve the orientation and visual impression of multiple walls in situ. This paper discusses the results of several photogrammetric campaigns recently undertaken to document the material record in the House of Marcus Lucretius at Pompeii (IX, 3, 5.24). In the process, it explores the combination of visual analysis with digital tools, and the use of 3D models to represent complex relationships between spaces and objects. To conclude, future avenues for research will be discussed, including the creation of an online database that would facilitate visualizing further connections within the material record.

A misleading source: the fortuna of a sixteenth-century engraving and its impact on the history of Roman baths studies

In this article, I follow the mixed fortunes of a woodcut depicting a cutaway view of a set of ancient baths, so far neglected by modern scholarship. First published in a mid-sixteenth-century treatise on balneology and based on a misinterpretation of Vitruvius (5.10.1), it reappeared as a copy of a Roman wall-painting in several eighteenth-century antiquarian works. The remarkable resonance enjoyed by this image in specialist and popular publications until the early twentieth century makes it one of the most influential and controversial sources in the history of Roman baths studies. In exploring the reasons behind the enduring, uncritical acceptance of this depiction, I raise broader questions concerning the nature and extent of intellectual networks in eighteenth-century Europe.

‘Eye-Like Radiance’: The Depiction of Gemstones in Roman Wall Painting

The study of ornament in Greek and Roman art has been the focus of increasing scholarly interest over the last decade, with many publications shedding new light on the dynamics of ornatus in antiquity, and the discourses that shaped and situated it. Through an analysis of the depiction of gemstones in Roman wall painting, this article demonstrates the importance of ornamental details both to the mechanics of two-dimensional representation and to the interpretation of the images they adorned. I argue that by evoking the material qualities and sensual pleasures of real precious stones, painted gems served on the one hand to enhance the illusory reality of wall painting, and on the other to extol the delights of luxury and refinement—that is, of ornamentation itself.