Roman wall paiting: what, where and how?

The development of Roman wall painting of the period 1st century B.C.- 1st century A.D. can be followed quite accurately, thanks to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., which has laid under volcanic ashes and covered with layers of lava a number of cities in that area, which have been excavated and studied well. A treasure of wall painting material has thus been preserved, especially in Pompei. It is therefore, that the Roman art of wall painting has mostly been called "Pompeian wall painting", because the most famous examples of Roman wall paiting have been located in Pompei. However, we should always consider Pompei to have been a quite delicate and luxurious, but provincial town in the Roman empire; thus, the fashion styles, exhibited there, always followed the style fashions of large urban centers like Rome and Naples with a discrepancy of 10 or 20 years.

The most important characteristic of Roman wall painting is always the synthesis developing from comabination and adaptation of elements of Late-Classical Greek, Hellenistic and Etruscan art. The most typical of Roman wall painting is, therefore, its system, not the various constituing parts of it.

Although many Roman wall paintings had been excavated in the 18th century, the scientific study of this material only began in the second half of the 19th century. August Mau was the first to create a system of Roman wall paiting styles; this system has been followed grosso modo until now; later scientists have brought greater detail into Mau's system. Others have concentrated their study on the so called figured pieces, i.e. painted scenes, incorporated into the wall decorations from the so called Second Style (90-15 B.C.; vide a special article of this style to be published later on), mostly copies of works developed from earlier Late Classical Greek and Hellenistic works. Sometimes, more or less likely figured pieces give us the possibility to, more or less, reconstruct a Greek original painted scene.

Technique:

To get a smooth wall surface for the painting to be made on, the rough stone wall was covered with a number of chalk layers (sometimes even 6 or 7) or various content. On the last of these layers, which was very thin, the wall decoration was painted "al fresco", i.e. while the last layer of chalk was still wet. This wall decoration was put on from the top to the bottom of the wall, i.e. the painting was put on in phases and covered the whole of the wall. The decoration was put on, after an incised study draw had been made, by the pictor. The previous layers of chalk could have been put on the wall by his apprentices.

A chronological overview of the Four Styles of Roman wall decoration:

First (so called incrustation) Style: about 200-90 B.C.

Second (so called architectural) Style: about 90-20/25 B.C.

Third (so called ornamental) Style: about 20/15 B.C. - 45 A.D.

Fourth (so called fantastic) Style: about 45-100 A.D.; in Pompei and other towns around Mt. Vesuvius, this last style obviously lasted until 79 A.D.

One should consider that in humble or simple dwellings, the wall decorations, if used at all, were more simple and mostly not of the last fashion in wall decorating.

Literature on simple wall decoration:

Strocka, V.M., Pompejanische Nebenzimmer; Neue Forschungen in Pompeji, Recklinghausen, 1975, 101-114.

Roman Wall Painting On The Web:

http://www.accd.edu/sac/vat/arthistory/arts1303/Rome4.htm

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mxb/roman_painting.html

http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/roman/painting.html

http://www.coco.cc.az.us/apetersen/_ART201/wall_painting.htm

http://harpy.uccs.edu/roman/html/romptg.html

http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/ROME/painting.html

To be continued..