Roman Wall Paintings

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• Roman Wall Paintings
• Architectural and Landscape
• II. Mythological and Historical
• III. Portrait

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Type 1 Architectural and Landscape

• Pillars, moldings, windows, doors, decorations
• Makes the room feel bigger.
• Makes the room look fancier.
• The room is more dynamic.
• Adds realism.
• - Looks outside, and makes one feel away from the
  city.

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Painting showing peaches and a bowl of water.
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Type 2 Mythological and Historical

• Told a story.
• Could represent a myth, battle, or particular
  event
• Though often obscure to us, painters would often
  use clear symbols to identify characters,
  especially the gods.

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Mars and Venus How can you identify them?
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Zeus (disguised as a bull) abducting Europa.
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The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
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Venus stands over her son, Aeneas (mythical
founder of the Roman people) as his wounds are
tended to. This scene is from the Aeneid,
Virgils epic poem describing Aeneas travel to
Italy, and the beginning of the Roman history.
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Painting showing the Dionysiac Mysteries, a
secret religious initiation process.
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Painting showing an unspecified naval battle.
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Type 3 Portriats

• Showed common people and common themes.
• Often represented life-like scenes, such as
  groups of people dining, preparing food, etc.
• Would sometimes represent animals and pets. (Do
  you think this makes it a little more like the
  first type of painting?)

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Portrait of a Roman woman
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A Roman woman preparing for her wedding day.
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Above A woman preparing perfumes. Left A
woman gathering flowers.
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Slaves preparing a meal, or possibly a sacrifice.
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Painting depicting the sale of bread from a
bakers stall. (This doesnt appear to be a
taberna, which would have been covered. Perhaps
this was in front of the taberna, or this may
have been some sort of mobile stall.)
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A dinner party in a triclinium. It appears that
the party is breaking up.
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A figure (most likely a satyr) peeking out of a
garden.
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A bird eating a fig. In some ways, this is like
the first type, as it adds depth and realism to
the room. On the other hand, it also adds a
living, moving dynamic to the room, much like the
portraits and other images of people.
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Some useful links (also found on my website at
www.nsboro.k12.ma.us/algonquin/faculty/foreignlang
uageteachers/staines/staines.htm) http//www.met
museum.org/toah/ho/04/eust/ho_03.14.13a-g.htm -
Beautiful images of a decorated dining room from
Herculaneum. http//www.shafe.co.uk/art/Classica
l_Tradition_slides_Greek_and_Roman_Painting_10-12-
2003.asp - The first half is all vase paintings.
However, the lower half of the page has numerous
wall paintings. http//www.unisa.ac.za/default.as
p?CmdViewContentContentID15932 http//www.theo
i.com/GalleryF1.html - Full of wonderful
mythology images.