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Vitruvius on Roman Wallpainting

I have started with the Latin text and below you will find the English translation. I have mentioned the source of each text underneath. These texts have been found at the Online Perseus Project for Classical Texts.

Tanaquil


Vitr. De Arch. VII, 5, 1-3
V. Ceteris conclavibus, id est vernis, autumnalibus, aestivis, etiam atriis et peristylis, constitutae sunt ab antiquis ex certis rebus certae rationes picturarum. namque pictura imago fit eius, quod est seu potest esse, uti homines, aedificia, naves, reliquarumque rerum, e quibus finitis certisque corporibus figurata similitudine sumuntur exempla. ex eo antiqui, qui initia expolitionibus instituerunt, imitati sunt primum crustarum marmorearum varietates et conlocationes, deinde coronarum, †siliculorum, cuneorum inter sese varias distributiones.
[2] Postea ingressi sunt, ut etiam aedificiorum figuras, columnarum et fastigiorum eminentes proiecturas imitarentur, patentibus autem locis, uti exhedris, propter amplitudines parietum scaenarum frontes tragico more aut comico seu satyrico designarent, ambulationibus vero propter spatia longitudinis varietatibus topiorum ornarent ab certis locorum proprietatibus imagines exprimentes; pinguntur enim portus, promunturia, litora, flumina, fontes, euripi, fana, luci, montes, pecora, pastores. nonnulli loci item signorum megalographiam habent et deorum simulacra seu fabularum dispositas explicationes, non minus troianas pugnas seu Ulixis errationes per topia, ceteraque, quae sunt eorum similibus rationibus ab rerum natura procreata.
[3] Sed haec, quae ex veris rebus exempla sumebantur, nunc iniquis moribus inprobantur. nam pinguntur tectoriis monstra potius quam ex rebus finitis imagines certae: pro columnis enim struuntur calami striati cum crispis foliis et volutis, pro fastigiis appagineculi, item candelabra aedicularum sustinentia figuras, supra fastigia eorum surgentes ex radicibus cum volutis teneri flores habentes in se sine ratione sedentia sigilla, non minus coliculi dimidiata habentes sigilla alia humanis, alia bestiarum capitibus.
(Fons: Vitruvius Pollio, De Architectura, F. Krohn. Lipsiae. B.G. Teubner. 1912)
Translation:
1. For the other apartments, that is, those intended to be used in Spring, Autumn, and Summer, as well as for atriums and peristyles, the ancients required realistic pictures of real things. A picture is, in fact, a representation of a thing which really exists or which can exist: for example, a man, a house, a ship, or anything else from whose definite and actual structure copies resembling it can be taken. Consequently the ancients who introduced polished finishings began by representing different kinds of marble slabs in different positions, and then cornices and blocks of yellow ochre arranged in various ways. [p. 211]
[2] 2. Afterwards they made such progress as to represent the forms of buildings, and of columns, and projecting and overhanging pediments; in their open rooms, such as exedrae, on account of the size, they depicted the facades of scenes in the tragic, comic, or satyric style; and their walks, on account of the great length, they decorated with a variety of landscapes, copying the characteristics of definite spots. In these paintings there are harbours, promontories, seashores, rivers, fountains, straits, fanes, groves, mountains, flocks, shepherds; in some places there are also pictures designed in the grand style, with figures of the gods or detailed mythological episodes, or the battles at Troy, or the wanderings of Ulysses, with landscape backgrounds, and other subjects reproduced on similar principles from real life.
[3] 3. But those subjects which were copied from actual realities are scorned in these days of bad taste. We now have fresco paintings of monstrosities, rather than truthful representations of definite things. For instance, reeds are put in the place of columns, fluted appendages with curly leaves and volutes, instead of pediments, candelabra supporting representations of shrines, and on top of their pediments numerous tender stalks and volutes growing up from the roots and having human figures senselessly seated upon them; sometimes stalks having only half-length figures, some with human heads, others with the heads of animals.
(Source: Vitruvius Pollio, The Ten Books on Architecture (ed. Morris Hicky Morgan)

Roman Wallpainting and Pompei, episode 1
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Roman wallpainting and Pompeii, episode 4
Roman Wallpainting and Pompeii, episode 3
Roman Wallpainting and Pompeii, episode 5
Roman Wallpainting and Pompeii, episode 6
Roman Wallpainting in Pompeii, episode 7

Vitruvius on Roman Wallpainting

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