Paintings of Pompeii: 1 Before the eruption

Fate is often capricious, being unkind to those around at the time, and generous to future generations. When their local volcano, Mount Vesuvius, erupted on 24 August 79 CE, the inhabitants of the Roman city of Pompeii and neighbouring towns stood no change of survival. But, as their houses were rapidly buried in ash, lava and rock, fate stored away a unique record of those who perished, and their paintings. This weekend I look at the paintings of Pompeii, today in those preserved in the remains, and tomorrow in imagined accounts of life and death in the city.

Of the three major classical civilisations in the northern Mediterranean, we have the most paintings of Romans, far fewer of Etruscans, and none at all of Greeks. Pompeii provides the broadest range of visual art, from troupe-l’oeil on the walls of noble villas, to visual menus of brothels. Many depict or at least refer to myths.

Among the most popular of the myths shown is that of Perseus and Andromeda.

Artist not known, Perseus Freeing Andromeda (c 50-75 CE), height 122 cm, Casa dei Dioscuri (VI, 9, 6), Pompeii, moved to Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples. By WolfgangRieger, via Wikimedia Commons.

This wall-painting, dated to about 50-75 CE, adopts the approach typical of many later artists, showing a close-up of the couple. Andromeda is still chained to the rock by her left wrist, and is partially clad, nakedness being reserved for the hero and demi-god Perseus. He has Medusa’s head tucked behind him, the face shown for ease of recognition, wears his winged sandals, and carries a straight sword in his left hand. There’s no sign of any sea monster, though.

Artist not known, Perseus and Andromeda (soon after 11 BCE), from Boscotrecase, Italy, moved to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. By Yann Forget, via Wikimedia Commons.

This painting from Boscotrecase, near the coast at Pompeii, dates from soon after 11 BCE, and puts the story into a larger landscape, much in the way that later landscape painters such as Poussin were to do. Andromeda is shown in the centre, on a small pedestal cut into the rock. Below it and to the left is the gaping mouth of Cetus, as Perseus flies down from the left to rescue Andromeda, kill the sea-monster, and later marry Andromeda in reward, as shown in the upper right.

Artist not known, Pentheus Being Torn Apart by Maenads (before 79 CE), fresco, northern wall of the triclinium in the Casa dei Vettii (VI 15,1), Pompeii, Italy. Image by WolfgangRieger, via Wikimedia Commons.

This fresco found in the ruins of one of the houses in Pompeii shows the gruesome scene of Pentheus being torn apart by Maenads. His mother and an aunt are here preparing to rip his arms off, another woman behind him is about to throw a large rock, and two others wield their thyrsi like clubs.

Artist not known, Dionysian Rites (before 65 CE), Room 5, Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy. By WolfgangRieger, via Wikimedia Commons.

Among the most spectacular wall-paintings are those in the Villa of the Mysteries showing Dionysian Rites from before about 62 CE. Room 5 contains a frieze of 29 figures at nearly life size, apparently depicting a sequence of ritual events involving a mixture of Pompeiians and deities.

Artist not known, Medea Planning the Murder of her Children (c 50-75 CE), Casa dei Dioscuri, Pompeii, moved to Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples. By Olivierw, via Wikimedia Commons.

Medea Planning the Murder of her Children (c 50-75 CE) shows the sorceress Medea preparing to kill her two children as vengeance for her husband Jason abandoning her to marry the King of Corinth’s daughter, Glauce. This was a variant of the story of Medea told in Euripides’ play Medea. The children are shown playing the popular game of knucklebones.

Artist not known, Venus and the Punishment of Cupid (detail) (c 30 BCE), mural from Casa dell’Amore in Pompeii, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy. Wikimedia Commons.

This detail from the beautiful mural in Pompeii’s Casa dell’Amore Punito (the House of the Punished Cupid) (c 30 BCE) shows Venus and the Punishment of Cupid. As the mischievous god of erotic love and lust, there are several myths in which Cupid gets into trouble, thus plenty of reasons for his mother to need to admonish or punish him.

Artist not known, Garden room (before 79 CE), fresco, dimensions not known, The House of the Golden Bracelet, Pompeii, Italy. Image by Stefano Bolognini, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Romans had a particular love for frescos that made their rooms look as if they were in a spacious outdoors, like these from the House of the Golden Bracelet.

Although it took nearly 1500 years before Giorgione made one of the first ‘proper’ landscape paintings in modern European art, by the first century CE the Romans of Pompeii were only too pleased to see pure landscapes with no discernible narrative content on the walls of their villas.

Artist not known, Port Scene (before 79 CE), fresco, originally from Stabiae, near Pompeii, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Italy. By WolfgangRieger, via Wikimedia Commons.

Above is a port scene found as a fresco in Stabiae, near Pompeii, and below is another maritime scene from the walls of the Temple of Isis.

Artist not known, Maritime Villa with Fishermen (before 79 CE), fresco, originally from the Temple of Isis in Pompeii, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Italy. By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, via Wikimedia Commons.
Artist not known, Still Life with Fruit and Wine (63-79 CE), fresco, 70 x 108 cm, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naple, Italy. Wikimedia Commons.

Roman artists even painted the occasional still life, here with apples and grapes in a glass vase, possibly referring to a rite associated with death.

The complete disappearance of classical Greek paintings can only be accounted for by the cultural vandalism of the Romans. The only surviving paintings from the Greek civilisation are those on vases and similar objects.

Artist not known, The Venus Anadyomenes (before 79 CE), fresco, dimensions not known, The House of Venus, Pompeii. By MatthiasKabel, via Wikimedia Commons.

Among those destroyed were the works of Apelles of Kos, one of the most renowned of the great painters of ancient Greece. Claimed to have been active around 330 BCE, he has been attributed at least eight major works, among them Aphrodite Anadyomene, in which the goddess Aphrodite rises from the sea. This achieved fame in part because his model for Aphrodite was a former mistress of Alexander the Great, Campaspe, according to the writings of Pliny the Elder.

Although several of Apelles paintings were taken to Rome, and it’s claimed that at least one survived as a copy in the ruins of Pompeii (above), all that remains of Apelles’ works are their verbal descriptions in classical writings.