In the nineteenth ^century , the excavations of Pompeii and related sites of Herculaneum , of Stabiae and Oplontis update a large number of frescoes , a period covering the ^third century BC. BC to the year 79. The archaeologist German August Mau ( 1840 - 1,909 ) divided by 1882 , according to the Pompeian paintings and formal categories of time, four in number, he called Style , is the first and second styles identified by Mau.

The standards system Mau was discussed and refined by his successors, including Amedeo Maiuri , superintendent of Pompeii in 1924 to 1961 . Cuts time from one style to another remain subjects of contention going on is the second to the third style in and around the Christian era or the death of Augustus in 14 ? The third style starts there at the end of the reign of Tiberius to 37 , with Claude ( 41 - 54 ) or after the earthquake of 62 which shook Pompeii ?

The classification according to these four styles is still today a convenient reference that has been extended beyond the perimeter of Pompeii, to describe the frescoes found in Rome , including the house of Augustus (it) and the Domus Aurea of Nero , and the rest of the Roman Empire.

Prime style

The first style, which appears in the ^second century BC. AD , is also called style inlay. Devoid of figurative elements has its origin in the Hellenistic world and its Eastern decorations large slabs of marble of which it reproduces the elements.

The decoration in relief, is made of stucco imitating marble polychrome colors. The wall divided into three horizontal and vertical, meets a strict tripartite. The lower part has a base resting on a plinth yellow, imitating wood, separated from the middle part by a headband. The latter is composed of large raised panel called orthostats , separated by narrower panels: the lesenes. Above and orthostats lesenes, a seat of stretchers and headers (alternating blocks wide and narrow blocks). The upper portion, meanwhile, is a cornice in stucco with a very strong showing of Ionic style ( atrium of the Samnite house ) or mimicking a temple tetrastyle ( fauces of the House of the Faun ).

This first style, which was already three centuries during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 , is known only by a small number of houses Campanian. It is also known by the writings of Vitruvius , which describes the first design: "The ancients, who made the first paintings on plaster, imitated the different streaks of the marble, and then made various compartments, tracing the figures round and triangular yellow and red. "

Examples: Atrium of the house of Sallust , first peristyle house of the Faun, House of the Centaur

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  Samnite House entrance, the side wall of imitation marble slabs, Herculaneum ,

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  Wall of the atrium in the house of Sallust, Pompeii (colored drawing)

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  Part of the Villa Arianna at Stabiae

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  Interior wall of the Basilica of Pompeii

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Second Style

The second style develops after the social war until the beginning of the reign of Augustus , to -20. It presents a significant break with the first style because there is no relief in stucco. Now, the walls are painted. Hendrik Gerard Beyen specialist second Pompeian style, divides into two phases ^, : a first phase known architectural and a second phase known as an ornamental.

The phase architecture has been dated through the wall construction of the Griffins' house (it) in Rome. Indeed, the opus reticulatum wall of the house is typical of the ^first century BC. AD , especially the years -80. The Griffins' house is a perfect example of this first phase. And part 3 has, in its lower part, a plinth surmounted by a seated stretchers and headers over which great orthostats vertical red are separated by thin lesenes green. The upper has a triple layer of blocks ISODOM arranged in staggered rows. If the division into three parts - frieze, middle panel and plinth - is always respected, the terrain is suggested by trompe-l'oeil. During this first phase, which lasts fifty years, the use of drawing and color are serving an illusionist and symmetrical architectural composition.

Vitruvius gives a detailed description of this style: "They came to represent buildings with columns and pediments, which stood out perfectly on the bottom. In the spaciousness, in conference rooms, for example, where the walls are large areas, they painted scenes of tragic, comic or satirical. Galleries, because of their length, they were decorated with landscapes enlivened by the views from certain localities; were ports, headlands, shorelines, flowers, fountains, streams, temples , woods, mountains, flocks, shepherds, and in some places they painted large when subjects were gods, or else they were borrowed from the mythology episodes, or the wars of Troy , or voyages of Ulysses. "

The second phase, known as an ornamental, has a much more lavish architecture. According to Gilles Sauron ^, , this new design is strongly influenced by the palatial architecture and theater. The transition from architectural decoration to a scenic backdrop is also associated with an opening in the wall: backgrounds composed of cities, sky, Tholos ... The wall often shows a high podium in the foreground on which are erected two or four columns that divide. These columns are based on the architraves , and arches and coffered ceiling. The effects of space are suggested by the opening scene, in the central and upper parts of the fresco, overlooking a landscape or other exterior architectural elements as seen from a window.

Gradually, the splendor of the stagecraft is replaced by paintings of mythological and mgalographies , present particularly in the Villa of the Mysteries or division into three horizontal levels is maintained, but the architectural elements are minimized. The columns, more and more slender, announce the candelabra style and the simplicity and austerity of growing decor, decorative body of the first phase of the third style. And decorations like those of triclinium C of the Villa Farnesina in the (it) to Rome testify to this premise. The transition will take place during the reign of Augustus between -40 and -30.

Vitruvius called him a decline in the art that changes, he considered fanciful and irrational: "This beautiful nature, in which the former would take their models, we reject the depraved tastes today. We no longer see the walls as monsters, instead of these representations real, natural in place of columns, you put reeds pediments are replaced by species of shells and harpoons ribbed, with leaves curled and small scrolls. We make candelabra supporting small buildings, which rise from the top, as having taken root, many young stems adorned with wreaths and bearing unreasonably small seated figures, one can still see the stems ending in flowers of where out of the half-figures, some with human faces, others with animal heads .

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  Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii

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  Villa Boscoreale (fr)

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  Villa Poppea at Oplontis

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  House of Augustus on the Palatine in Rome

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  Painting garden of the Villa Livia - Palazzo Massimo - Rome

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Third style

The third style, or ornamental style, influence Egyptianizing, appears around -20 and disappears under Claude. It is a style of reaction against the illusionism of the second style and its solutions baroque trompe-l'oeil. The walls close and the decorations are simple. Of candelabra or columns become single vertical bands dividing wall. Examples include the tablinum of Marcus Lucretius Fronto villa at Pompeii shrine enclosing a large table with, from both sides, small paintings hanging from chandeliers. The architectural elements are very thin and purely decorative. At the top, some architectures sham, sets of miniature colorful funds are made on black or white, no link with the rest of the decor. The most significant innovation is the introduction of the large picture, painted on the wall and no longer locked in a small wooden cabinet suspended. It occupies the central part of the decoration, placed inside a shrine flanked by panels, which are also small pictures miners, pastoral views or figurative . The themes are drawn from mythology, religion or idyllic. A technique Impressionist appears in the painting.

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  Oplontis, Villa Poppaea, caldarium

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  Tablinum of Marcus Lucretius Fronto villa

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  Herculaneum, Caupona

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  Villa Boscotrecase , mythological picture

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Fourth style

The fourth style or style fantasy, is the reign of Claudius to the disappearance of Pompeii. This style is back in perspective and architectural to the illusionism. It is a synthesis of the two previous styles. We return to the effects of openness and depth. The taste remains with ornamental decorations exuberant, gilding of carvings, medallions, chandeliers and stucco reliefs. We abandon the tripartite system requiring frieze and skirt, the architectures of the frieze unreal fit better into the overall composition .

The colors are sharper and chromatic contrasts appear. The architecture is painted trompe l'oeil on a podium and the central area of the mural is divided into three sections by porticoes with floors. The themes are mythological, naturalistic, show scenes from daily life, still lifes or portraits. These scenes are painted with a technique impressionist. Mats sham appear on the walls with the center of small figurines.

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  Pompeii, House of Vettii, oecus triclinium

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  Pompeii, House of Vettii (oecus)

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  Herculaneum, Basilica

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  Wall in the Domus Aurea in Rome

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References

Bibliography

• Jean-Michel Croisille The Roman painting, Picard, Cahors, December 2005, 375 p, ( ISBN 2-7084-0748-1 )
• Donatella Mazzoleni, Umberto Pappalardo, frescoes of Roman villas, fortresses and Mazenod, Paris, April 2004, ( ISBN 2-85088-204-6 )
• Alix Barbet, La Roman wall painting, Picard, Cond-sur-Noireau, March 1985, 285 p, ( ISBN 2-7084-0116-5 )
• Amedeo Maiuri , Roman Painting, French translation of Rosabianca, Skira, 1953, 155 pages

External Links

• (In) and Becoming in Dissolution Roman Wall-Painting (Dissolution and become the Roman wall painting) - (en) Introduction in French

• Ancient Rome portal
• Portal Painting

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