Roman Painting

Revision on Roman Painting, including the four Pompeian styles and mosaic.

1. Roman Painting
Revision

2. Introduction
•It is the heir of Greek painting
•Finality: decorate houses and palaces
•It is mainly wall painting
•The artisan was considered as a craftsman
and the painter on wood had a higher
prestige than the wall painter.

3. Introduction
•There were two kinds of painting:
–On wall: it is fresco
–On wood: it is temple
•It has a wide range of colours: black, while, red,
yellow and sometimes blue, purple, green
•Colours were mixed with water and sometimes with
glue
•Sometimes perspective was used.

4. Themes
•Any kind of subject was depicted:
–Daily life
–Mythology
–War
–Erotic
–Comical
•Freedom of costumes made possible the
depiction of nudes

5. Places
•The only painting known is wall painting
•Four styles have been identified
•It was found in
–Pompeii
–Herculaneum
–Stabia
–Palatino
–Rome
•Mosaics where found in villas in different places,
being specially rich the South of Italy and Sicily.

6. First Style
•Incrustations
–Mid 2nd century to early 1st century BC
–It imitated the marble decoration of the
Hellenistic period
–It is colourful and of sumptuous aspect
–The wall is divided in three parts:
•Basis, imitating granite
•Middle, imitating marble
•Cornice, ended in stucco

8. Second Style
•Architectonical:
–1st century BC (Cesar’s times)
–It imitates architectures, including perspective
–It is frequent the depiction of windows from
where buildings can be seen
–It tends to dissolve the wall
–It is a Roman style

10. Third Style
•Mixed or Ornamental
–Until mid 1st century AD
–It is a mix of the former two styles
–It is characterized by:
•Light ornamental elements
•Fantastic building
•Friezes with children
•Stylised vegetables
•Animals
•Mythological scenes
–It is full of intense colours
–More common in Rome than in Pompeii.

12. Fourth Style
•Illusionist or Stenographic
–It lasted until the end of 1st century AD
–It took elements from second and third styles
–It is more complicate, with mythological and
historical scenes
–It is very recharged
–Curtains are common
–Landscape is depicted

14. Easel Painting
•Subjects:
–History
–Landscape
–Daily life
–Animals
–Portrait
•The best examples are the funerary portraits
of El Fayum

16. Mosaic
•It was common decorating the floors of domus and
villas
•The technique consisted of combining small pieces
of glass or stones called tesella
•There were others in which bigger and irregular
pieces of stone were used.
•Motives are varied, the same as
in painting and they normally
depict scenes related to the room
they were made for.