This is the exhibition title. It reads Pompeii in Color: The Life of Roman Painting.

Pompeii in Color: The Life of Roman Painting presents frescoes from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. All originally from Roman homes, the subjects of these works range from mythological scenes to landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and more, each rich with meaning for homeowners and their guests.

This digital complement to the exhibition at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World presents an opportunity to learn about ancient painting, the tastes and values of the Romans who lived with these works, and the techniques used by the artists who created them.

These remarkably well-preserved frescoes invite us to see beyond the ashes of the tragic city, and instead experience the vibrant world of the ancient Roman home as the Pompeians themselves knew it.

Presented by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and organized with the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and MondoMostre.

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Four men recline on long beds draped in cloth for a banquet or symposium. Another man is seated on the front edge of the table. He speaks to the figure at his left, and scratched above his head is the Greek word Scio (I know). He looks at a smaller male, likely enslaved, in front of the beds, who extends a silver cup to him. An even smaller male, possibly a child, appears to help the man sitting on the table with his shoe.

A ROMAN HOME

Exploring the look, layout, and life of a Pompeian house

SOURCES and MODELS

The myths and artworks that inspired the paintings

A woman in a robe looks fearful as her right arm is grabbed from the left by Achilles and from the right by Odysseus, who wears a small skullcap and holds a long spear. Achilles’ shield is upright between Odysseus and the woman. She is Deidamia, daughter of King Lycomedes and pregnant with Achilles’ child. Her father is in the background at the left. A soldier is slightly behind him on the right. At the far right a nude woman, holding drapery above and behind her, is fleeing the scene.

These fragments of fresco were mounted together. Two are shown here. From top to bottom are a single vase, two scrolls, and a view of five buildings with two small figures in the left foreground.

THE FANTASTIC and THE FAMILIAR

Elevating the everyday world in still-life painting

PROCESS: MATERIALS and MAKING

Uncovering the painters’ methods, tools, and pigments

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The central figure of a nude man wears an ivy-leaf crown and holds a spear in his left hand. His wine cup has fallen to the ground, and he is supported under his right arm by an elderly bearded man. At the right a partially nude woman with a robe draped across her groin and legs leans against the man’s club with her left hand. She wears a lion-skin headdress. Several standing figures look on in the background. Three small childlike figures of erotes are also at play. One blows pipes into the younger man’s left ear; one peeps out from under the robes of the elderly man; and a third attempts to set the wine cup aright.

THE HOUSE of MARCUS LUCRETIUS

What a painting of Hercules can show us about Roman hospitality (and holding one’s wine)

TRADITION and TRANSFORMATION

How Roman artists built on Greek culture and made it their own

A light-skinned female figure wears an elephant headdress.

This monochrome yellow-red fresco shows a landscape with architecture. To the left is an enclosed shrine on a rock, with an Ionic column supporting a vessel and a sacred tree. To the right is a staircase, flanked on both sides by balustrades, that leads to a gateway depicted in the guise of a small shrine. Inside the sanctuary is a man with a dog. Beyond the aedicula is a columnar tower with a hipped roof. In the background at center is a temple with a wooden gabled roof and decorated with a round shield on the wall.

THE AFTERLIFE of POMPEII and HERCULANEUM

From the eighteenth century to the digital age

Four men recline on long beds draped in cloth for a banquet or symposium. Another man is seated on the front edge of the table. He speaks to the figure at his left, and scratched above his head is the Greek word Scio (I know). He looks at a smaller male, likely enslaved, in front of the beds, who extends a silver cup to him. An even smaller male, possibly a child, appears to help the man sitting on the table with his shoe.

A ROMAN HOME

Exploring the look, layout, and life of a Pompeian house

A woman in a robe looks fearful as her right arm is grabbed from the left by Achilles and from the right by Odysseus, who wears a small skullcap and holds a long spear. Achilles’ shield is upright between Odysseus and the woman. She is Deidamia, daughter of King Lycomedes and pregnant with Achilles’ child. Her father is in the background at the left. A soldier is slightly behind him on the right. At the far right a nude woman, holding drapery above and behind her, is fleeing the scene.

SOURCES and MODELS

The myths and artworks that inspired the paintings

These fragments of fresco were mounted together. Two are shown here. From top to bottom are a single vase, two scrolls, and a view of five buildings with two small figures in the left foreground.

THE FANTASTIC and THE FAMILIAR

Elevating the everyday world in still-life painting

On the left is a terracotta cup with chunks of red pigment. On the right is a terracotta cup with chunks of purple pigment.

PROCESS: MATERIALS and MAKING

Uncovering the painters’ methods, tools, and pigments

The central figure of a nude man wears an ivy-leaf crown and holds a spear in his left hand. His wine cup has fallen to the ground, and he is supported under his right arm by an elderly bearded man. At the right a partially nude woman with a robe draped across her groin and legs leans against the man’s club with her left hand. She wears a lion-skin headdress. Several standing figures look on in the background. Three small childlike figures of erotes are also at play. One blows pipes into the younger man’s left ear; one peeps out from under the robes of the elderly man; and a third attempts to set the wine cup aright.

THE HOUSE of MARCUS LUCRETIUS

What a painting of Hercules can show us about Roman hospitality (and holding one’s wine)

A light-skinned female figure wears an elephant headdress.

TRADITION and TRANSFORMATION

How Roman artists built on Greek culture and made it their own

This monochrome yellow-red fresco shows a landscape with architecture. To the left is an enclosed shrine on a rock, with an Ionic column supporting a vessel and a sacred tree. To the right is a staircase, flanked on both sides by balustrades, that leads to a gateway depicted in the guise of a small shrine. Inside the sanctuary is a man with a dog. Beyond the aedicula is a columnar tower with a hipped roof. In the background at center is a temple with a wooden gabled roof and decorated with a round shield on the wall.

THE AFTERLIFE of POMPEII and HERCULANEUM

From the eighteenth century to the digital age

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
New York University
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