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THE FANTASTIC and THE FAMILIAR

Elevating the everyday world in still life painting

Still-Life Painting

These fragments of fresco were mounted together. On the left, from top to bottom, are a single vase, two scrolls, and a view of five buildings with two small figures in the left foreground. On the right is a two-shelf cabinet with a green fruit and a round fruit on the top shelf, and a roundish red fruit on the bottom shelf.
Still-life fragments representing a vase, scrolls, a landscape, and fruit, 1st century CE, fresco, Herculaneum, H. 51.1 cm; W. 62.5 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 9819, Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples

The range of subjects in Roman painting is vast. In addition to mythological stories, elite Romans also decorated their homes with poignant scenes of everyday life, compelling portraits, lush still lifes, atmospheric landscapes, and theater-inspired settings. While many such paintings represent real rather than mythological scenarios and objects, there is nothing mundane about these subjects, and each was deliberately selected as part a homeowner’s self-presentation.

Whether the subject of a painting was a familiar household object or a fantastic scene, domestic frescoes presented an expansive image of the world and brought it home.

People

Portraiture techniques could elevate familiar faces from the lives of Roman painters and turn them into literary heroes.

Roundels were often used as a framing device for painted portraits in Pompeii, and the individualistic features in this rendering of Hercules and Omphale suggest that contemporary models may have been used as inspiration rather than an older, mythological representation. The identity of the subjects as mythological characters is confirmed by Omphale’s lion skin and club—borrowed from Hercules—while Hercules’s crown of vines shows him to be firmly under Bacchus’s influence. The artist also represents Omphale’s hand resting on the frame with the tips of her fingers eclipsing the edge, as if she is emerging from the painting into the viewer’s space. Such illusionistic details, more typical of portraiture than mythological painting, blurred the lines between art and reality, mythic past and present.

A circular frame encloses the shoulder-length portraits of two figures. At the left is a woman wearing a lion-skin headdress, holding a wooden club, and extending her right arm. The fingers of her hand slightly extend beyond the frame as if to break the sense of pictorial illusion. At the right is a bearded man wearing an ivy crown and embracing the woman with his left arm.
Hercules and Omphale, 1st century CE, fresco, Herculaneum, H. 40.3 cm; W. 41 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 9004. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples
A portrait of a young man shown from the neck up. Dark curls extend beneath his peaked cap, and there is an arrowhead behind his left shoulder. The image is somewhat fuzzy from apparent wear and loss of pigment.
Portrait of Paris, 1st century CE, fresco, Pompeii, H. 41.9 cm; W. 41.9 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 8986. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples
A young man is shown from the neck up. His curly red hair is partially covered by a green peaked cap. He wears a pinkish robe, and an arrowhead extends upward behind his left shoulder.
Portrait of Paris, 1st century CE, fresco, Pompeii, H. 31.4 cm; W. 31.4 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 8981. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Both of these portraits can be identified as Paris, a mythological Trojan prince, by their Phrygian cap (typically associated with the Trojans) and by the arrowhead visible over the shoulder of each. Yet their distinct features suggest that the painters had different real-life models—capturing a variety of people drawn from life rather than from an idealized mythology. The addition of a few attributes, such as a cap and arrow, allowed artists to transform someone from their everyday existence into a legendary character.

Place

Depictions of landscape and architecture that include colorful temples and elaborate villas present vistas that reach beyond the confines of a modestly sized house.

This harbor view shows a colonnaded villa with porticoes, a pier, boats, and figures peacefully fishing, strolling, and socializing along the water’s edge. Although the landscape may be an idealized vision, scholars believe that frescoes such as this one present a fairly accurate impression of grand villas on the Bay of Naples, even if the specific building is unidentifiable or an artistic invention. While most of the works in our exhibition provide a glimpse into the interiors of Roman homes, this painting offers a sense of the exteriors of the more opulent seaside estates in the region.

A large colonnaded villa with porticoes is situated at the edge of a harbor. Outside the villa, along the waterfront, are people walking at leisure and an elderly man with a stick. On the villa’s pier is a fisherman, and in the water there is a boat. Mountains, trees, and a hill with buildings are in the background.The painting has a pastel color palette with pinks, greens, and oranges.
Maritime landscape, 1st century CE, fresco, Villa San Marco, room 52, west wall, middle zone, main picture, Stabiae, H. 21.9 cm; W. 44.8 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 9480. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Roman houses integrated gardens and green spaces into their plans and frequently incorporated those elements into interior painting that depicted outside views. Here a wall of grapevines, rich with red and purple grapes, is pierced by a lifelike mask representing a maenad, a female follower of Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry. The playful inclusion of the mask draws viewers into the work, as if calling them into an imaginary vineyard beyond. This painting was originally situated in a triclinium (dining room), where its theme of wine would have been appropriate; the dining room led directly outside onto a garden space, making the play between interior and exterior all the more convincing.

At the center a mask with eyes, nose, mouth, and red hair is surrounded by grape leaves and bunches of grapes. The mask’s eyes look directly out of the picture plane. The painting has a pastel color palette with pinks, greens, and oranges.
Mask amid bunches of grapes and vines, 1st century CE, fresco, House of V. Popidius or House of Mosaic Doves, triclinium 13, east wall, central section, Pompeii, H. 54.6 cm; W. 55.2 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 9798. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples
A seated female artist gazes at the sculpture before her while reaching back with her paintbrush to a box of pigments. Her painting of a sculpture has been placed on the floor directly beneath its model as the artist applies the finishing touches. The artist’s focus is not disturbed by two richly dressed woman, perhaps patrons, looking on thoughtfully from behind a pillar.
Painter at work, 1st century CE, fresco, House of the Surgeon, room 19, east wall, central section, Pompeii, H. 45.4 cm; W. 45 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 9018. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples

In this fresco we see an anonymous female painter dramatically framed by a window opening to the sky. Its message about the world-expanding potential of the arts would have been especially resonant in the fresco’s original, small interior room.

The artist gazes at the sculpture before her while simultaneously reaching back with her paintbrush to a box of pigments. A painting of a sculpture—the painting within the painting—is almost complete and has been placed on the floor directly beneath its model while the finishing touches are applied. The artist’s focus is not disturbed by two richly dressed woman looking on thoughtfully from behind a pillar. This work turns us into onlookers as well: in this fresco, the act of painting itself is on display.

Thing

Writing tools were status symbols and could signify an owner’s success in business or literary endeavors. Birds, fish, and fruit carry special meaning through their association with gifts, hospitality, and religious offerings.

Images of reveling banqueters or playful mythological moments may have been suited to spaces for entertainment, but for rooms where business was conducted, the visual program was more sober and staid. The chair, papyrus scroll, and wax writing tablet in this fresco suggest record keeping and thus perhaps success in financial matters.

The shape of this panel indicates that it likely formed part of the border of a larger painted wall. It is not uncommon for still-life subjects to be represented in the border areas surrounding a larger central image, and such pictures frequently had a thematic connection with the primary panel.

From left to right, a chair, an unrolled papyrus scroll, and a wax writing tablet are depicted against a dark background.
Still life with scribal tools and papyrus scroll, 1st century CE, fresco, Herculaneum, H. 23.5 cm; W. 88.3 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 4668. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples
Six fish, a turtle, and a clam are shown in a body of water. This fragment of a fresco has a rectangular border in red at the bottom and right.
Still life with fish, 1st century CE, fresco, Pompeii, H. 36.2 cm; W. 79.4 cm, National Archaeological Museum of Naples: MANN 8637. Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Part of a larger scene of sea life, this detailed and animated rendering of several types of fish and a clam conveys the central importance of the sea to Pompeii, as well as the artist’s firsthand familiarity with marine life.

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