4. CL205.S20.4.Republican Domestic Architectue and Wall Ptg..pptx

Republican Domestic Architectue and Wall Ptg

1. CL/AH/HIST 205: Roman Art and Archaeology PPT 3: Republican Domestic Architecture and Wall Painting (Kleiner, Chapter 4)

2. Houses at Pompeii Varied in size, shape. Usually several/block; exterior walls touching. At least one side faced onto a street.

3. Houses were inward-looking; decoration mainly on the inside. Windows: few, high, small, often barred. Why?

4. Barred House Windows, Herculaneum

5. Model of a Typical House at Pompeii Front, ground-floor rooms of houses were often designed to be rented out as shops; a mingling of residential and commercial space. No zoning laws.

6. A typical domus of the 3 rd c BCE, before the period of strong Greek influence on Italian architecture. Definition of domus (pl. domus ): a single-family house within a town (vs. a villa, a freestanding house in the countryside, surrounded by extensive grounds; or an apartment in a town). Domus Italica * of the 3 rd c BCE *used by both the Romans as well as the non-Roman inhabitants of Italy.

7. Cf. Etruscan Tomb of the Shields and Chairs, ca. 550-500 BCE

8. Key function of a Roman house: to reflect/enhance the status of the paterfamilias . Here he conducted business, hosted dinner parties, and met clients for the morning salutatio . The more public areas of the house, those seen by visitors, have the richest decoration (mosaic floors, wall paintings). Many of these lie along the central axis. Parts of a Domus Fauces (lit. “throat”):

9. compluvium Atrium : Characteristic features of the atrium: Compluvium: 2 functions of the compluvium? Impluvium : Parts of a Domus

10. Marble wellhead. Cross-section of atrium showing cistern. Reconstruction of atrium.

11. Marble wellhead in an atrium , Herculaneum

12. Examples of Lararia at Pompeii (sing.: lararium)

13. Bronze lares and other statuettes from a lararium

14. Alae (lit. “wings”): doorless rooms completely open across the front, located at the sides of the atrium toward the back. Function? Tablinum : behind the atrium , on axis with the fauces . Functions? (Term: salutation ) Parts of a Domus

15. -Open across front. -Usually raised a few inches above the level of the atrium . -Front corners sometimes set off by engaged columns or pilasters. -Could be closed off from the atrium by curtains or a wooden screen. Tablinum : Architectural Features Together, the atrium and tablinum formed the heart of a traditional Italic house. These were among the most public and therefore the most richly decorated spaces.

16. Triclinium : dining room. -Flanks the tablinum . -From Greek for “3 couches.” -Couches in an offset U-formation. Parts of a Domus

17. Typically 3 diners/couch. Romans ate lying down. Shared table at center.

18. Cubiculum (pl.: cubicula ): Often located around the atrium . Small, sometimes richly decorated. Architecture and decoration may suggest the location of the bed. Parts of a Domus

19. House of Sallust: View across the atrium towards the tablinum and hortus .

20. Hortus : House of Sallus , hortus Parts of a Domus

21. Culina : kitchen Cooking was done by slaves. Small, unobtrusive spaces. Poorly ventilated, smoky, hot. Identified by presence of a masonry cooking platform. Raised rim contained ash. Arched opening not an oven but a storage space for fuel. Wood or charcoal fire was built on top; food was cooked in a pot. Parts of a Domus

22. Hellenized Domus of the 1 st and 2 nd c BCE fauces, (2) atrium, (3) impluvium, (4) cubiculum, (5) ala, (6) tablinum, (7) triclinium, (8) peristyle

23. Peristyle of the House of the Vettii , mid 2 nd c BCE; rebuilt 3 rd quarter 1 st c CE

24. The Vettii 2 brothers: Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius Conviva Wealthy freedmen who made their money as merchants Conviva was an Augustalis , the highest civil office open to freedmen Augustales : -Priests of the imperial cult -Ranked immediately below the members of the town council -Open to wealthy freedmen who were expected to donate large sums of money to their town Owned the House of the Vettii in Pompeii’s last years Rebuilt and redecorated the house after the earthquake of 62 CE.

25. House of the Vettii View of the atrium with the peristyle beyond. What space does this house lack? Why?

26. House of the Faun Largest house in Pompeii. Built in 1 st half of the 2 nd c BCE. Expanded in 2 nd half 2 nd c BCE to include 2nd (larger) peristyle; takes up entire city block (over 30,000 square ft.)

27. House of the Faun, 2 nd (large) peristyle (# 12)

28. House of the Faun Entrance deliberately grand and imposing. Sidewalk “welcome mat”

29. Faun (Satyr) statuette found in the Tuscan-style atrium (#4) Impluvium paved with opus sectile

30. “But conditions were different in the atria of our ancestors where it was portraits which were looked at, and not statues by foreign artists, either in bronze or marble. Wax impressions of the face were set out on separate chests, so that they might serve as the portraits which were carried in family funeral processions, and thus, when anyone died, the entire roll of his ancestors, all who ever existed, was present. Genealogical lines of descent, in fact, used to be indicated, running back and forth between painted portraits. The family archive rooms were filled with scrolls and other records commemorating deeds done [by members of the family] during their magistracies.” Pliny the Elder, Natural History XXXV.6-7 Satyr statuette clearly reflects Pliny’s complaint that in his day (d. 79 CE), people had taken to decorating their atria with fancy art instead of traditional ancestor portraits.

31. Reconstruction of the Tuscan-style atrium (#3) 2 atria, # 3 and # 8. Why???

32. Example of a tetrastyle atrium in the House of the Silver Wedding, Pompeii, mid 2 nd c BCE

33. House of the Faun Plan showing the locations of figural mosaics.

34. Mosaic at threshold of fauces with atrium (#1 and 3): garland with theater masks

35. Reconstruction of exedra (#11): Nilotic mosaic on threshold. Alexander mosaic at center.

36. Nilotic scene: central section. Hippo, crocodile, mongoose and cobra, ibises, ducks.

37. Details: mongoose and cobra, ibises.

38. The Alexander Mosaic, a late 2 nd or early 1 st c BCE copy of a famous Greek panel painting of ca. 310 BCE, of the Battle of Issus, where Alexander the Great defeated the Persian King Darius.

39. Huge size (8’ 10” x 16’ 9”) and extremely small tesserae (ca. 1.5 million, 100-200/in²) would have made it stunningly expensive.

40. Detail: Darius

41. Detail: rump of horse; face of a Persian mirrored in his shield

42. Roman Wall Painting Classification system (4 Pompeian styles) created in 19 th c (August Mau). Much less is known about Roman wall painting after 79 CE. Why? True fresco, painted onto wet plaster. Very durable. Technique: Several layers of plaster applied to wall. Top layer applied 1 section at a time, each the size the painter could finish in one day. Design sketched (red ochre) or incised onto plaster. Polished to increase luminosity.

43. Diagram showing the different segments ( giornata di lavoro ) of a wall, each plastered and painted in one day. House of Livia , Rome, soon after 30 BCE

44. Four Styles of Roman Wall Painting 1 st Style (Masonry Style): ca. 3 rd c BCE – 80 BCE 2 nd (Architectural Style): ca. 80 – 20 BCE 3 rd Style (Closed), ca. 20 BCE – 50 CE 4 th Style (Fantastic), ca. 50 – 79 CE

45. First Style (Masonry Style) Originated in Greece. Actual wall surface is not flat; the plaster is molded in low relief to resemble real blocks of stone and architectural moldings. Painted to imitate expensive, imported, colored marbles. Cheaper than the real thing, but still expensive and only found in wealthy houses. Fauces of the Samnite House, Herculaneum, late 2 nd c BCE

46. First Style Paintings Above: House of the Faun, Pompeii. Left: House of Sallust, Pompeii.

47. 2nd Style Wall Painting from the House of the Griffins, Palatine Hill, Rome: ca. 80 BCE Actual wall surface is now flat. Painting is illusionistic (creates the illusion of a 3D space on a 2D surface). Typically, foreground has a realistic-looking architectural framework: columns on a projecting podium.

48. Space opened up even more: beyond the architectural framework in the foreground, distant outdoor vistas are visible. Second Style (Architectural Style) Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor , Boscoreale , ca. 50-40 BCE

49. Second Style (Architectural Style): Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor , Boscoreale , ca. 50-40 BCE

50. Second Style (Architectural Style): Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor , Boscoreale , ca. 50-40 BCE

51. Second Style (Architectural Style): Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor , Boscoreale , ca. 50-40 BCE

52. Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, early 2 nd c BCE with later remodeling Suburban villa: part luxury accommodation, part working farm. Vitruvius: such villas reverse order of atrium and peristyle.

53. Reconstructed wine press from the Villa of the Mysteries

54. Dionysiac Mystery Frieze, Second Style Wall Paintings, Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, 60-50 BCE, frieze 5’ 4” high

55. N wall E wall Left: S wall. Right: W wall. (wide window here) (wide door here) N E S W (door here)

56. Center: Dionysus and Ariadne. Right corner: winged woman whips the initiate.

57. Initiate has her hair dressed for her wedding. Is she preparing for her real (human) wedding, or for a symbolic union with the god Dionysus?