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Roman Wall Paintings
The Three Types:
I. Architectural and Landscape
II. Mythological and Historical
III. Portrait
Type 1: Architectural and Landscape
- Pillars, moldings, windows, doors, decorations
- “Makes the room feel bigger.”
- “Makes the room look fancier.”
- “The room is more dynamic.”
- Adds realism.
- Looks outside, and makes one feel away from the city.
Type 2: Mythological and Historical
- “Told a story.”
- Could represent a myth, battle, or particular event
- Though often obscure to us, painters would use clear symbols to identify characters, especially the gods.
Venus stands over her son, Aeneas (mythical founder of the Roman people) as his wounds are tended to. This scene is from the Aeneid, Virgil’s epic poem describing Aeneas’ travel to Italy, and the beginning of the Roman history.
Type 3: Portriats
- Showed common people and common themes.
- Often represented life-like scenes, such as groups of people dining, preparing food, etc.
- Would sometimes represent animals and pets. (Do you think this makes it a little more like the first type of painting?)
Painting depicting the sale of bread from a baker’s stall. (This doesn’t appear to be a taberna, which would have been covered. Perhaps this was in front of the taberna, or this may have been some sort
of mobile stall.)
A bird eating a fig.
In some ways, this is like the first type, as it adds depth and realism to the room. On the other hand, it
also adds a living, moving dynamic to the room, much like the portraits and other images of people.
Some useful links (also found on my website at: www.nsboro.k12.ma.us/algonquin/faculty/foreignlanguageteachers/staines/staines.htm)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/04/eust/ho_03.14.13a-g.htm# - Beautiful images of a decorated dining room from Herculaneum.
http://www.shafe.co.uk/art/Classical_Tradition_slides_Greek_and_Roman_Painting_10-12-2003.asp - The first half is all vase paintings. However, the lower half of the page has numerous wall paintings.
http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=15932
http://www.theoi.com/GalleryF1.html - Full of wonderful mythology images.
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