Roman Provincial Wall Painting of the Western Empire 9780860541714, 9781407328485
240 101 185MB
English Pages [218] Year 1982
Polecaj historie
Table of contents :
Front Cover
Copyright
Table of Contents
Introduction
List of Contributors
1. A PAINTED OECUS FROM SETTEFINESTRE (TUSCANY) : EXCAVATION, CONSERVATION AND ANALYSES
2. THE ROOTS OF PROVINCIAL ROMAN PAINTING RESULTS OF CURRENT RESEARCH IN NERO'S DOMUS AUREA
3. THE DIFFUSION OF THE THIRD POMPEIAN STYLE IN GAUL
4. ROMAN WALL PAINTING : TECHNIQUE OF RESTORATION AND MOUNTING
5. RÖMISCHE WANDMALEREI IN KÖLN
6. WALL PLASTER FROM THE YORK MINSTER EXCAVATIONS, 1967-1973
7. THE KINGSCOTE WALL-PAINTINGS
8. NEW DISCOVERIES FROM THE NORFOLK STREET VILLA, LEICESTER
9. THE LIFTING OF THE ROMAN WALLPLASTER FROM THE NORFOLK STREET ROMAN VILLA, LEICESTER, ENGLAND
10. ROMANO-BRITISH WALL-PAINTINGS FROM TARRANT HINTON, DORSET
11. THE RESTORATION OF THE LULLINGSTONE ROMAN WALL-PLASTER
12. ROMAN WALL-PAINTING IN THE NETHERLANDS : A SURVEY
13. MURAL PAINTINGS FROM A ROMAN VILLA AT DRUTEN, THE NETHERLANDS
14. SOME MOSAICS AND MURALS IN ROMAN TRIPOLITANIA
Citation preview
Roman Provincial Wall Painting of the Western Empire edited by Joan Liversidge
B A R International Series I 40 1982
B.A.R.,
B.A.R.
122
Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7BP, England
GENERAL EDITORS A. R. Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phil. D. R. Walker, M.A.
B.A.R.-S14o, 1982: 'Roman Provincial Wall Pai nting of the Western Empire'
©
The Individual Authors, 1982
The authors’ moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9780860541714 paperback ISBN 9781407328485 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9780860541714 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com
CONTENTS
I ntroduction List of Contributors 1 .
A Painted Oecus f rom S ettefinestre, Conservation and Analyses Marietta de Vos,
Fulvia Donati,
Rossetta Filippi,
Tuscany:
Excavation,
: E lizabeth Fentress,
Cristina Panerai,
Maria Letizia Paoletti
and E lizabeth Pye. Plate
1 .1.
P late 1 .2.
P laster Box
1 .3.
spreads revealed by t rowelling.
l abelled with site,
room, Plate
1
Grid
l ayer,
year,
group and box number.
square used
6
Plate
1 .4.
Plaster placed
Plate
1 .5.
The remaining dado with facing i n
Plate
1 .6.
A s ection of
Plate
1 .7.
S ections of plaster
Plate
1 .8.
The temporary laboratory showing plaster
Plate
1 .9.
The
position o f
i n boxes,
s howing
f ragments.
6
position.
1 4 faced wallplaster being
removed using a s upporting board.
a fter
1 7
c leaning of
the back.
l ongest s ection of plaster, a fter
1 8 face
applying a temporary
c loth backing. Plate
1 .10.
T he removal o f
1 9
the facing prior to
cleaning the painted s urface. Fig.1.1.
1 6
lying face down .on
s upports.
upwards,
5
for drawing plaster
groups.
rigid
5
t rench,
2 0
The f ormation o f a destruction deposit 1 .
The house.
2 .
The roof
3 .
Rain and f rost detach the plaster
falls
in. 2
f rom the walls. 4 .
The walls collapse covering the fallen plaster but with plaster probably f rom adjacent rooms on top.
5 . Fig.1.2.
The resulting
Plan o f
s pread o f
numbers marked
3
s tratigraphy. fallen plaster.
Box
i n Roman numerals.
7 1 0
Fig.1.3.
Reconstruction o f drawing of east wall.
Fig.1.4.
Reconstruction drawing o f north wall.
1 1
The mounting of the reconstructed north wall.
1 2
Fig. 1 .5.
Fig.1.6.
Section of wall
Fig.1.7.
Recording
Fig.1.8.
Record
Fig.1.9.
I sometric reconstruction o f the
and pavement.
s heet f or
2 1
e lements of
architectural decoration. sheet
s tage represented on the 2 .
2 4
( reverse).
2 5 east wall.
The Roots of Provincial Roman Painting. Research i n Nero's Domus Aurea W .J.Th.Peters P late
2 .1.
Results of Current
:
and P .G.P.Meyboom Rome,
3 3
Domus Aurea,
room no.
5 0
( after Mirri
room no.
4 2,
and Carletti). Plate
2 .2.
Rome,
P late
2 .3.
Rome,
P late
2 .4.
Rome,
3 7
Domus Aurea,
e ast wall
( Copyright Nijmegen University ). Domus Aurea,
r oom no.
3 8
3 3
( after
2 3,
s outh
Mirri and Carletti). Domus Aurea,
wall 2 .5.
Rome,
P late
2 .6.
Rome,
Plate
2 .7.
Rome,
room no.
4 0
( Copyright Gabinetto Fotografico
Nazionale, P late
Rome).
Domus Aurea,
4 1 room no.
5 5
( after
3 2
( after
Mirri and Carletti). Domus Aurea,
room no.
4 3
Mirri and Carletti). Domus Aurea,
e ast corner
room no.
4 4 1 16,
north-
( Copyright Nijmegen
University ). Plate
2 .8.
Rome,
4 7
Domus Aurea,
wall
( Copyright
room no.
1 14,
north
I stituto Centrale per
i l Catalogo e l a Documentazione, Plate
2 .9.
Rome,
Plate
2 .10.
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
part
room no.
9 4,
room no.
Rome).
7 1
Rome).
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
degli uccelli), and west wall Unione, P late
2 .12.
Rome,
P late
2 .13.
Rome,
northern part
Plate
2 .14.
Rome,
Plate
2 .15.
Rome,
Plate
2 .16.
Rome,
Plate
2 .17.
Rome,
Plate - 2 .18.
Rome,
Plate
2 .19.
Rome,
Plate
2 .20.
Rome,
wall wall
room no.
7 1
5 2
( Sala
part of north wall
( Copyright Fototeca
Rome).
5 3
Domus Aurea,
wall
room no.
4 6,
east
( Copyright Nijmegen University). Domus Aurea,
room no.
7 2,
room no.
7 5,
passage no.
9 2,
room 4 2, room 4 2, room 4 8,
Rome).
room 4 8,
southern part
room 4 8,
6 2
west wall
( Copyright Nijmegen University Domus Aurea,
6 1
north wall
( Copyright Nijmegen University ). Domus Aurea,
6 0
vault
( Copyright Fototeca Unione, Domus Aurea,
5 8
east wall
( Copyright Nijmegen University ). Domus Aurea,
5 6
a rch
( Copyright Nijmegen University ). Domus Aurea,
5 5
east
( Copyright N ijmegen University). Domus Aurea,
5 4
north
( Copyright Nijmegen University ). Domus Aurea,
Carletti).
5 1
( Sala
( Copyright Nijmegen University). 2 .11.
4 8
northern
( Copyright Fototeca Unione, Domus Aurea,
degli uccelli), Plate
2 7
6 3
vault of
( after Mirri and 6 4
P late
2 .21.
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
northern part Fig.
3 .
2 .1.
room 4 8,
vault of
( after Mirri and Carletti).
Plan of the Domus Aurea.
3 4
The Diffusion o f the Third P ompeian Style in Gaul Alix Barbet P late
3 .1.
the
Two herons on the
' nympheas'
3 .2.
Vienne.
P late
3 .3.
Perigueux.
Detail
P late
3 .4.
Perigueux.
Base o f panel.
3 .1.
Map o f
Place St.Pierre.
chief
of Style Fig.
3 .2.
Vienne,
Fig.
3 .3.
Champlieu,
7 5
s outh wall o f
peristyle.
Plate
Fig.
:
( translated by Anne Gruaz). Vienne.
7 8
Dado with thirsi.
f rom top of panel.
s ites
P ierre,
7 6
drawing of
the oblique
drawing of
thirsi.
Mounting
8 1
: Technique o f Restoration and
:
Claudine Allag Fig.4.1.
80
the decoration
of the temple gallery. Roman Wall Painting
7 9
showing the diffusion
the plinth with
4 .
7 8 7 9
I II painting in Gaul.
place St.
6 5
( translated by Roger L ing).
Fragments
8 5
f or mounting.
86
Mortar being removed f rom the back of F ig.4.3.
the fragments.
Summary of
86
the different phases of
mounting the
f ragments as seen f rom
the back. 1 .
Fragments held by gauze and canvas.
2 .
Thin l ayers o f
synthetic mortar
keeps them i n position. 3 .
Removal of ancient mortar.
4 .
S econd l ayer o f
s ynthetic mortar
and gauze. 5 .
Honeycomb coated with bakelite between two l ayers o f
g lass f ibre 88
and resin. Fig.4.4.
Final reconstruction. Genainville
5 .
Example
f rom 8 8
( Val d ' Oise).
Römische Wandmalerei in Köln M .
9 1
S chleiermacher.
Plate
5 .1.
Das römische Köln.
Plate
5 .2.
FO: Domplatte nach Plan G .Precht.
P late
5 .3.
Kandelaberwand B mit Türöffnung,
P late
5 .4.
K andelaberwand.
Weinernte.
P late
5 .5.
K andelaberwand.
D ionysos.
5 .6.
K andelaberwand.
S ockelfeld.
Domsudseite
Plate
CCAA nach J . Klinkenberg
9 2 9 2
FO Köln, 9 2
1 969.
9 4 9 4 Bellerophon.
9 4
Plate
5 .7.
K andelaberwand.
Pomona.
9 5
Plate 5 .8.
K andelaberwand.
Dionysos.
9 5
Plate
Kandelaberwand.
Detail.
9 5
5 .9.
Plate
5 .10.
Kandelaberwand.
Meerwesen.
9 6
Plate
5 .11.
Kandelaberwand.
geflügelte Büste
9 6
Plate
5 .12.
Neufund,
P late
5 .13.
Grabung W .Meier-Arendt und G .Deckers. FO:
Gertrudenstrasse.
Köln,
Gorgo.
Gertrudenstrasse.
9 6
1 980.
Mänade.
102
Plate
5 .14.
Gertrudenstrasse.
Vogel.
1 02
Plate
5 .15.
Gertrudenstrasse.
S chwan.
1 02
P late
5 .16.
Gertrudenstrasse.
Details aus
Kandelaberstreifen,
6 .
Vogel.
1 03
Plate
5 .17.
Gertrudenstrasse.
S chwäne.
1 03
Plate
5 .18.
Gertrudenstrasse.
O scilla.
1 03
P late
5 .19.
Jagd-und Tierszenen.
Kopf d es Tigers.
1 07
Plate
5 .20.
Jagd-und Tierszenen.
K opf des Panthers.
1 07
Plate
5 .21.
Jagd-und Tierszenen.
Rankenfries.
1 07
Fig.
5 .1.
Jagdszene.
1 10
Fig.
5 .2.
Panther.
1 10
Wall Plaster f rom t he York Minster Excavations,
1 967-1973
Brenda Heywood. Fig.
6 .1.
1 22
York,
f ourth century plaster
the Minster 7 .
( N .
f ound under
Davey ).
1 23
The Kingscote Wall-paintings Roger Ling. Fig.
8 .
:
7 .1
1 24 K ingscote Villa
New Discoveries
( N.
Davey ).
1 25
f rom the Norfolk Street Villa,
Leicester
Jean E .Mellor. Plate 8 .1.
1 27
P ainted plaster
f ragments
c lay-brick wall, Plate 8 .2.
as
f rom west s ide of
f ound in c ellar f illing.
East-west s ection through c ellar
showing c ollapsed partition wall
f rom
ground f loor. Plate
8 .3.
1 30
f illing, 1 32
D etail of painted vine s croll
round one of
the c olumns on the main s ection o f wallpainting.
The
j oin between applications
of plaster can be
s een on the
l eft.
Fig.
8 .1.
P lan o f main villa buildings recovered
Fig.
8 .2
Decorative s cheme of main s ection o f
8 .3.
Diagram i llustrating method of application.
i n
1 851 and 1 979.
wall-plaster. Fig.
1 36
1 28 1 34 1 38
9 .
The Lifting of the Roman Wallplaster Norfolk Street Roman Villa, Theodore Fig.
9 .1
i llustrate method used to face-down plaster.
Romano-British Wall-Paintings Lt-Col.
England 1 41
Diagram t o
Dorset
1 43
f rom Tarrant Hinton,
: G .E.
Gray.
1 45
Plate
1 0.1 Human
f eet.
1 47
Plate
1 0.2
Spear head.
1 48
Plate
1 0.3
S ection of dado.
P late
1 0.4 On l eft,
P late
1 0.5 Golden disc decorated with human face.
Above
1 1.
Leicester,
Sturge
l ift the 1 0.
f rom the
human r ight,
1 49
f ace with curly hair, ? s atyr's
head.
1 50 1 51
The Restoration of the Lullingstone Roman Wall-Plaster F rances Weatherhead.
1 2.
Roman Wall-Painting E ric M .
1 3.
1 53 i n the Netherlands
: A Survey
:
Moormann
1 61
Fig.12.1.
Findspots o f Roman Wall-painting.
1 64
Fig.12.2.
Aardenburg
( No.3)
1 66
Fig.12.3.
Aardenburg
( No.3)
Fig.12.4.
Bocholtz
Mural Paintings
( No.21)
: Panel Decoration. : Panel D ecoration. : Lozenge Pattern.
1 67 1 74
f rom a Roman Villa at D ruten,
The Netherlands
1 4.
•
: 1 83
Louis J .F.
Swinkels.
Fig.13.1.
Druten,
plan of the excavations.
1 84
Fig.13.2.
Druten,
Decoration A .
1 86
Fig.13.3.
Druten,
Decoration B .
1 87
Fig.13.4.
Druten,
Decoration C .
1 8ä
Fig.13.5.
Druten,
Decoration D .
1 90
S ome Mosaics and Murals David E . Plate
in Roman Tripolitania
Johnston.
1 93
1 4.1 Reconstruction o f wall d ecoration. of the T ragic Actor, S ea view with houses.
Plate
1 4.2
Plate
1 4.3 Dionysus riding a panther.
Plate
1 4.4 Detail o f village
Tragic Actor,
House
S abratha. House o f
1 97
the
Sabratha.
Cryptoporticus,
Fig.14.1.
Map showing
Fig.14.2.
Plan of the villa
Fig.14.3.
Design
1 98 Vault o f
Dar Buc Ammera, from P late
s ites mentioned
Z liten.
1 4.3. i n the
2 01 2 02
t ext.
a t Dar Buc Ammera.
1 94 1 99
from the vault of the
Cryptoporticus Dar F .Grosse.
Buc Ammera 2 00 .
I NTRODUCTION Joan Liversidge
' The walls of
some
o f the rooms
with a ground o f rich r ed, colours,
i n which were
objects.' 1 848,
i nterspersed birds,
Thus wrote
( 1)
appear t o have been ornamented
divided i nto panels by borders of various
the
f lowers,
and
f anciful i n
a description which might apply to many a Roman provincial I n this
c ase,
too,
s urvive to bear out the r ecords
i s
a f ew
f ragments of the painted walls
a ccount.
d ecorative
typical of many o lder d iscoveries, e lement
During the dramatically.
l ast twenty years,
however,
the
this i mportant l argely
i gnored.
s ituation has changed
I mproved methods of e xcavation now f requently r eveal
as the house decayed,
surviving walls or
and lying i n
have had to be
i nvented to
c ountries, At
The
l ifting
i s no l ight task and new techniques
s olve this problem.
and the
f allen f rom the walls
layers on the ground.
and reconstruction of such paintings
historians.
still
and a s painted plaster
f loors,
i n provincial buildings has been
painting attached either to
s everal
s ite.
Such s canty evidence with brief
does not have the durable quality of mosaic
i n
stars
excavator of a Romano-British villa
r esults
The work i s
f orging ahead
c an now be studied by art
f irst r esearch tended to be
known i n each c ountry with wall paintings
c onfined to the material f ound i n Italy a s
the only
comparative material available. I t s oon became apparent that the s tudent working on provincial material
s hould be s eeking the answer t o s everal questions.
d evelopment of R oman wall painting i t
r eflect particular trends
f ar does
i t r esemble
i n the
material
First,
i n each particular province. choice of motifs?
S econdly,
the
D oes how
f ound i n other provinces? And t hirdly,
t o what e xtent c an these motifs be traced back to Italy,
and how l ong
was taken f or their diffusion? To
a ssist i n the
s olution of the
s econd problem it was
t o hold a s eminar on Provincial Wall Painting i n Cambridge
d ecided
i n 1 980,
and the topics d iscussed on that occasion are expanded i n some of t he papers
i n this v olume.
To them has been added t he major a ccount of
c urrent work on the Style Settefinestre. Domus Aurea,
I I paintings
This paper,
f rom the
I talian s ite of
together with P rofessor Peters'
provides material
f or answers
Another seminar i s to be held i n Paris
i n
work on the
t o our third question. 1 982.
T he publication of this volume has been delayed by the i llness,
and s pecial
thanks
are due to Mrs.
much e xtra work i n addition to typing the manuscript. Cambridge 1 982 NOTE 1 .
Journ.
Brit.
Arch.
A ss.
I V.361.
editor's
D iane Quarrie who undertook
List C .
of Contributors
ALLAG.,
C . N.R.S.,
Centre
d 'etude
des peintures murales
romaine ,
des
romaines,
Paris. A .
BARBET,
C . N. R.S.,
Centre d 'etude
peintures murales
Paris. E .
FENTRESS,
LT-COL. DR. B.
J .
LING,
P .
DR.
E .
Dept.
PYE,
MEYBOOM,
Dept.
of
DR.
L . J.F.
Extra-Mural
of History of Art,
Studies,
Manchester
Katholieke Universiteit, PETERS,
London University
M .
Wimborne Minster.
Southampton University. University.
Amsterdam University.
MOORMANN,
DR.
House Museum,
Leicester Museum.
PROFESSOR W . J.Th. E .
Priest' s
York Minster Archaeology Office.
JOHNSTON,
MELLOR,
DR.
GRAY,
HEYWOOD,
DR. D. E. DR. R.
G . E.
Rome.
SCHLEIERMACHER, SWINKELS,
M .
DE VOS,
F .
WEATHERHEAD,
Nijmegen.
Katholieke Universiteit, Institute
of Archaeology.
Römisch-Germanische Museum,
Katholieke Universiteit,
Rome
Cambridge.
Nijmegen.
Cologne.
Nijmegen.
1 .
A PAINTED OECUS FROM SETTEFINESTRE EXCAVATION,
Mariette de Vos,
( TUSCANY)
:
CONSERVATION AND ANALYSES
Fulvia Donati,
Rossella Filippi,
E lizabeth Fentress,
Cristina Panerai,
Maria Letizia Paoletti
a nd Elizabeth Pye
( 1)
Introduction From 1 976 to
1 981 a l arge
s ix-week e xcavation has been undertaken
every year at the Late Republican Roman villa of Settefinestre excavation, i s
j ointly directed by Andrea Carandini
a r esearch
very
. This
( 2)
and Tim Tatton -Brown,
a nd training e xcavation which has produced from the
large quantities
of painted wall plaster,
f irst
and i t has been an
important a im to modify and improve techniques of r ecovering a nd restoring t his material.
This paper
methodology a nd r esults of the
i s a preliminary presentation of the
excavation and r estoration of one room
of the villa. ( 3) The various processes which ' a decorative
element undergoes before
being published and placed in a museum or on a s ite c ompletely
s eparated f rom one
restoration, different
analysis
themselves
with t he
f inish up on the
spoil heap.
rarely
which
carries out t he work
various
case with the paintings peristyle 1 .
i s
a l ong,
the whole process.
from r oom 1 2,
While
a nd in which the This has been the
a small oecus
g iving onto
t he
( Elizabeth Fentress)
a c ertain
amount has been written on the
Roman painted plaster may be the archaeologist i s
The principal
e xcavation.
f ound i n s itu are rare
This
appeared t o be the
conservation of S ites
i n which
i ndeed: c ase
s tructures of the villa - t he pars
rustica - were constructed on a terrace ( basis
( 5)
normally
faced with a mass of f ragments without any apparent
relationship between them.
suffered
One possibly
f ormation of a r esearch group
at S ettefinestre.( 4 )
Excavation
basements
d elicate and expensive
f rom beginning to end,
painted plaster l ittle exists on i ts
pars
the objects
There are very f ew examples of
I taly outside the area of Vesuvius.
i s the
specialists coordinate
i nformation
At worst,
f oreseen when planning an excavation.
way t o overcome these problems
c onservation,
t reatment are entrusted t o
c onsequent l oss of the
conservation of wall paintings
business,
a re generally
excavation,
f rom a more organic treatment.
Roman wall painting preserved i n The
At best,
and art historical
specialists,
which might derive
another.
v illae).
l ittle erosion.
The
l evel
Further,
at Settefinestre. urbana and
t he
s upported by vaulted
surface of the
s ite has
t hus
t he s ite has been d evoted t o oliv 1
1 .
The house
2
2 .
3 .
Rain
The
roof
and
plaster
falls
i n.
f rost detach the f rom
2
the walls.
4 .
The walls collapse covering the
fallen plaster but with
plaster probably f rom adjacent rooms on top.
V
5 .
Fig.1.1.
The
The resulting
s tratigraphy.
f ormation o f a destruction deposit.
3
c ultivation,
with the r esult that d amage to t he d estruction l ayer h as
been o nly s light,
e xcept i n t he immediate v icinity of t he t rees.
a re thus r emarkably well preserved, u nder a s
l ittle a s 20 c m.
T hey
with f allen s tuccoed c olumns
I n most of t he pars
u rbana t he upper d estruction l ayer i s marked
by the presence of numerous
f ragments of painted p laster.
T heir a pparently
r andom d istribution s uggested at f irst a s ystematic c ollection, r ecord a t l east t he position of t he began
the e xcavation of the
1 metre g rid over t he
f ragments w ithin
s mall o ecug,
a rea of t he r oom.
e ach to b e placed i n boxes
r oom 1 2, E ach
t o be e xcavated i n t en c entimetre s pits, I t was
f ound
o f t opsoil.
t he
a r oom.
s o a s t o
We t hus
by c onstructing a
i ndividual g rid s quare was f ragments of p laster f rom
l abelled with t he grid square a nd s pit number.
i mmediately obvious,
however,
t hat t his
the u sual d efects of t his t ype o f e xcavation.
s ystem suffered f rom a ll I nstead of r evealing the
r elationships between i ndividual f ragments i t s eemed t o d istort t hem. Just a s points of i nterest a re i nevitably s ituated a t t he two maps,
s o
l arge quantity of i ndividual or,
d iagonally,
t edious,
f ragments
between two s pits.
I n s um,
The e xperiment had a t
t he
s ystem was a nd was
r ecoverable r elationship between t hem. s heets of plaster,
r evealed a s
a bandoned a lmost
l east d emonstrated t hat f ragments
o f plaster had not f allen f rom the walls one by one, l arge
A
l ay between two g rid s quares,
bureaucratic a nd c ounter-productive,
immediately.
j unction o f
j oining f ragments r arely f ell within o ne grid s quare.
without a ny
Accurate t rowelling r evealed
which had s mashed on hitting t he g round.
The
c ollapse of the walls had g iven r ise to a r ather c omplicated s tratig raphic s equence i n which, plaster, i s
summarized i n F ig.1.1 a s
1 .
The
t erre.
2 .
The roof f alls
t he u nits a re s preads o f
f ormation of t his
s hown i n s ection.
t he
c ollapse,
Over
high t he walls were c onstructed i n p is
i n,
d e
probably due t o the r otting of t he beams( 6 )
Rain a nd f rost detach t he p laster f rom t he walls.
t hemselves
s equence
f ollows:
S chematic drawing of a r oom i n the v illa,
a s tone plinth s ome 6 0 cm. 3 .
within t he l ayers,
g enerally l ying f ace d own.
4 .
T he w alls
c overing t he l ayers of f allen plaster a nd f illing
i nterstices between the
f ragments.
We have r egularly f ound a
c ertain quantity of p laster l ying f ace-up a bove the d eriving f rom the walls,
which s eems
l ayer o f c lay
t o s uggest t hat s ome p laster
c ontinued t o adhere t o the walls a s t hey c ollapsed, w ith t hem i nto a n adjoining r oom.
5 .
a nd was
c arried
T he r esulting s tratigraphy.
I t
s hould be n oticed t hat t he c lay l ayer i s d eepest a t the c entre of t he r oom,
a s t he plaster t ends to a ccumulate a round t he walls. For t he r ecovery of t he p laster we have a dopted t he
procedure.
F irst,
f ollowing
i ndividual s preads of p laster a re r evealed a nd c leaned
by c areful t rowelling
( P1.1.1).
T he highest s pread - o r t hat n ot c overed
by any other - i s planned a t 1 t o 2 0 on t ransparent d rawing f ilm ( P1.1.3) f ragments
a nd g iven a number. a re
Beginning f rom one e dge of t he s pread,
c ollected i n boxes l ined w ith paper,
t he r elationship b etween i ndividual pieces
( P1.1.4).
s preads t he p laster i s backed prior to l ifting, a 3 %
s olution of Paraloid B 72 f illed,
box number,
f our c oats of
a c otton g auze s upport ).
the box i s numbered w ith t he number of t he a s well a s t he u sual
The a rea f rom which t he box was p lan,
I n v ery f ractured
( three t o
- a n e thylacrylate/methyl methacrylate
c opolymer - i n a cetone a re a pplied t ogether w ith O nce
t he
t aking c are to preserve
s pread a nd a
s ite and l ayer i nformation
( P1.1.2).
taken i s t hen outlined i n r ed on t he
a nd t he box number r ecorded
( Fig.
4
1 .2).
Any f ragments without a
Plate
P late
1 .1.
1 .2.
P laster
Box
s preads r evealed by trowelling.
l abelled with s ite,
group and box number.
year,
trench,
room,
l ayer,
G rid square used f or drawing p laster groups.
P laster placed
› " C
. ) 8 c 7 z 3 -A \ ( _ _ _ \! < ä ) J . de . V
f allen p laster.
) c \ ' % )\ , C ? / 7 2 . ( -10 8 .
› " C
•
CD 'd) , z\C ) , 04 0° C) 2 :‹ 19 \
(91
•
•
o-
c lear r elationship t o a spread are
c ollected in a box labelled with the
number of the nearest s pread and marked of plaster within t ightly
a box are then
' sporadics'.
f illed with paper,
Gaps between pieces and t he whole
i s
covered with mosquito netting held d own with drawing pins.
Finally,
the
characteristics of each
S ITE
YEAR
GROUP NO.
NO.
s pread are r ecorded a s
TRENCH
OF BOXES
SPORADICS
f ollows:
LAYER
POSITION
COVERED
PAINTED
BY
COVERS
WALL(?)
SURFACE
This
system has
A spread may s ingle box,
the advantage of a l arge d egree of
c onsist of
a group of pieces
or may extend t o
1 980 excavation,
s everal
s quare metres.
we have encountered l ess
in which the groups
a re
f lexibility.
small enough to When,
c onsistent
r ecoverable only a s
f it i nto a a s
i n t he
f alls of plaster
small nuclei,
we have
r etained the system with the s light modification that t he area of t he group i s
defined on t he plan but t he i ndividual nuclei
On the whole,
however,
of the plaster
2 .
i n
it has been possible t o
a r oom within the
Reconstruction a nd Conservation
c ontext of
a re n ot drawn.
r ecover the vast majority a well-defined s pread.
( Cristina Panerai)
Reconstruction of the painting be9ins with the s election, by the
s ite plans,
of one of t he boxes.
s ucceeding box are of the
larger
c leaned,
7 )
The
c ontents of t his
j oined and r ecorded a s
' jig-saw puzzle'
of the painting.
a s
guided and each
to become a piece
During t he processing
of each box a c ertain quantity of i nformation about the painting i s d estroyed,
particularly the d etails of i ts preparation.
n ecessary t o
r ecord,
box by box,
of each layer of preparation, t ion of the walls
the composition,
a s well a s
the
r ecord sheet
and any Before
f ound.
t he nature of any
l ower
f ragments of plaster
f racture
i s marked on the back with a s well
a s
with
t racing.
l arge
c layey earth,
amount of
f rom a box t heir edges
l ines,
u sually by
but i n particularly
s ander. ( 8)
The
t he r oom number,
i ndividual
l ayer,
group and
an individual number c orresponding to
position on t he brush was
a lso
l ining the box t o r ecord t heir exact position
d ifficult cases with the u se of a rotary box number,
i s
type of
s urface encrusta-
l ayers of plaster are then r emoved,
pressure with a scalpel on the f ragment
t he
j oins which can be made to t he contents of other boxes. r emoving the
The
When n ecessary,
As work progresses on each box,
c ondition of t he painted s urfaces,
are t raced on the paper a s
t herefore
a nd type
f or t he construc-
l isting d etails of t he preparation l ayers
r ecord the
f racture between the plaster l ayers, t ions
any evidence
and t heir t reatment prior t o painting.
the evidence i s drawn and photographed . u sed t o
It i s
t hickness
The plaster
f rom r oom 1 2 was
easily r emoved with a dry brush.
u sed f or t he surface of t he painting and a s tiff one
8
i ts
covered with a A s oft f or t he
edges,
where eventual j oing would be hindered by a ny d irt l eft i n t he
c racks.
Under t he
s uperficial l ayer of earth t he paint s urface was
c overed with a t enacious s iliceous i ncrustation, c hemical preparations had l ittle o r no e ffect.
o n which various I n t he end we
( 9)
d ecided t o r esign outselves t o e xclusively mechanical c leaning with s calpels.
This method i s
t he c entre,
c arried out working
f rom t he e dge t owards
taking particular c are with t he overpainting w hich
t ends
t o adhere to t he i ncrustation a nd c ome off with i t. When a ll
t he
f ragments
i n a box were
c leaned i t was possible to
proceed t o t he more s Atisfying process of r eassembling t he u sing the t raced plan on the bottom of t he box a s marked with a c halked l ine. t ogether w ith polyvinyl order t o
A s ' each box was
f inished j oins were s tuck
a cetate s olution adhesives
f orm pieces A bout 20, c entimetres square,
held easily i n one hand. box were
The r eassembled f ragments
l eft on a l arge table,
s uch a s U HU i n no l arger t han c an be f rom t he
f inished
a nd t he n ext box begun - preferably
t hat adjoining t he. first on t he s ite plan. ‚ completed a s earch was made a mong the ideally t hese s hould be
f ragments
a guide : Joins were
When t he whole group was
' sporadics'
f or missing pieces:
c leaned f irst a nd s orted a ccording to c olour
a nd motif. T he work t o d ate on r oom 1 2 has r econstruction of t he d ecorative thirds of the east wall ( Figs.
1 .3,4)
We have r eassembled s ome two-
( around 6 m2 ) , (10 ) half of t he s hort.north wall
and a part of t he west wall.
plaster with t races of a r eed ' backing t he
a llowed a n a lmost c omplete
s cheme.
There r emains s ome yellowish
( camera a c anne),
c eiling , a nd a s mall group o f f ragments,
a ppears t o be of a d ifferent quality t o t he r est, t o t he architrave over t he d oor on t he s outh s ide. ' boxes of
' sporadic'
which
a nd p robably b elongs No m ore t han two
f ragments a re l eft over.
The graphic documentation o f t he a bove on plastic
a pparently f rom
a round 5 0 x 7 0 cm.,
i ncludes a 1 t o
f ilm a nd a 1 t o 5 s cale d rawing with a minimum o f
1 d rawing r econstruc-
t ion of the original d esign.
3 .
Conservation: The
T he S upport
( Fulvia Donati)
f inal o peration on t he painted plaster f rom r oom 1 2 was
t he
mounting on a r igid s upport o f t he two r elatively c omplete walls.
The
impetus t ions
f or t his undertaking was t he e xhibition based o n t he excava-
a t S ettefinestre which opened i n December 1 978 a t P isa. ' The s hort
t ime a llowed f or the preparation of t his f irst e xhibition l ed u s t o adopt . a t emporary e sC c p was
s olution f or t he mounting,
i n w hich
i n e ffect t he
s tuck t o t wo pieces o f canvas nailed o nto a wooden backing,
and the whole made good with a p laster s kim around t he painting. n ext year t his t emporary mounting, s lightly, c alled
was r eplaced by a f inal version,
' sandwich'
t echnique.
This,
The
which had i n t he meantime buckled c onstructed with the s o-
while producing a r easonably
s uccessful r esult,
r etained c ertain o f t he i nconveniences of the
o riginal mounting,
principally the e xcessive weight o f t he r econstructed
panel and t he i ng. wall,
c onsequent t endency towards d efolmation o f t he wooden back-
Our third s olution - t hat a dopted f or t he mounting o f t he s hort s eems superior both f or i ts l ightness
s implicity
( Fig.1.5).
The support i s
9
a nd f or
i ts g reater
constructed d irectly on t he back
r
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Fig.
1 .4.
Reconstruction d rawing o f
north wall.
1ALU M IN IU M
ANGLES
2 HONEYCO MB 3 GLASS
F IBRE
4 MORTAR 5F RESCO , MORTAR
Fig.
1 .5.
I NF ILL
T he mounting of t he reconstructed north wall. 1 2
o f t he
f resco,
which
out t o r eceive t urned over. 1 .
i t.
i s
l aid on a s heet of polystyrene f oam hollowed
The whole
The process
i s t hen c overed with a s econd s heet a nd
i nvolves:
The application to t he back of t he f resco a nd t o the polystyrene
o f a s ynthetic mortar: 1 part marble powder,
3 parts Movilith D .50, 4 parts water
1 part Movilith D .25,
( both Moviliths
a re polyvinyl
a cetate e mulsions). 2 .
On t op of this mortar,
of g lass c omb'
f ibre,
i t i s
a nd a s econd l ayer of g lass
ordinary Araldite 3 .
while
a re p laced a l ayer
f ibre,
f ibre,
a ll
' honey-
s tuck t ogether with
( epoxy r esin).
T-section a luminium bars
t he g lass
s till w et,
t hen a s heet o f p lastic-impregnated c ardboard
a re i nserted between t he honeycomb a nd
both a long t he
s ides
a nd to f orm an X a cross t he
back. 4 .
The whole i s t hen t urned over a nd t he
below t he
l evel o f t he painting,
f illed with a minimum of toned i nfill. Paraloid B 72
s urface made g ood,
with l ime plaster. A protective
t o j ust
S mall l acunae a re c oating o f 2 -3%
( an e thyl a crylate/methyl methacrylate c opolymer)
t richloroethane i s g iven
i n
t o t he painting.
We have d ecided a gainst a ny r estoration of the f inished panel, n either i ncising nor c olouring o utside t he
l imits of the f resco i tself.
The water-colour t oning-in of lacunae has been a s d iscreet a s p ossible, a s we f eel that the picture s hould e merge by i tself
f rom t he background
of r ough plaster. 4 .
The Removal of the D ado
( Elizabeth Pye)
Although most o f t he plaster had f allen with the p is 6 - d e t erre a nd l ay i n f ragments stone manner the
i n the r oom,
the dado r emained a ttached t o the
f ootings o f the walls a nd had t o be r emoved i n a d ifferent ( P1.1.1).
As
i t had not been possible t o r emove t he d ado d uring
s ame s eason a s the plaster f ragments,
the f ootings
a nd plaster had
been c overed by a l ayer of plastic mosquito n etting a nd carefully r eburied. 1 979
They w ere t hen r e-excavated a nd t he d ado r emoved d uring the
e xcavation s eason.
All t he work d escribed below t ook p lace on t he
s ite or i n . a t emporary l aboratory e stablished i n a l ocal The
l imitations
i mposed by l ocally obtainable s upplies
brought out t o t he e xcavation were a lready e xhausted ) s peed meant that normal methods were modified ; was u sed t o r emove t he p laster, adhesive. well.
f acing
u sing a n on-ionic d etergent
t o r emove dressing a nd t o pre-shrink,
a cetate e mulsion
both b ecause o f i ts
the s elvedges were
t he p laster s urface
f acing. ,
c loth was thoroughly washed,
A polyvinyl
s elected,
f rayed t o prevent marking o f
or u ndue t ension when a ttaching t he The
only one l ayer o f
t ogether with a l ocally o btained
f ine white c otton c loth was
c ut off a nd the edges
( Synperonic N ),
( those
a nd t he n eed f or
e xperience had however s hown t hat t he method worked
Previous
A l ength o f
s chool. ( 11)
( Vinavil 5 9)
e ase of u se a nd i ts
was
l ocal
a nd t hen d ried.
c hosen a s t he adhesive a vailability i n l arge
quantities. ( 12) T he surface o f t he dado was prepared by brushing g ently t o r emove 1 3
f acing i n position. • , I 3 0 7 5 r d 7 5 e j l , 1 . ' r d C D g i
C ) E 1 L n , 1 ( 1 ) g ) r d , — I
a ,
l oose dust,
earth a nd encrustation;
earth were c ut a way.
Any
r oots
a nd overhanging l umps o f
f ragments of plaster which had become d etached
or were embedded i n t he earthy d eposits a ssociated with t he wall were c arefully r emoved a nd placed i n a ppropriately l abelled bags.
Once the
r emains o f the d ado had been c leaned i t was possible t o s ee the p ositions o f t he main f ractures a nd t herefore t o d ecide how t o d ivide the p laster i nto
s ections of a s uitable s ize
then made of the walls d rawn i n. water)
A f irst
a nd t he
f or l ifting a nd r emoval.
c oat of adhesive
( diluted w ith a n equal quantity of
was brushed o nto t he plaster and the
t o the n ow s ticky s urface, the adhesive b rush,
t he
A plan was
i ntended s ections were measured and f acing c arefully a pplied
a s econd c oat was
t hen
a pplied a nd,
u sing
f acing was manipulated i nto a ll hollows a nd
r ound a ll projections s o that i t was properly i n c ontact over t he whole t he
s urface.
Wherever a very d eep hollow prevented complete adherence
f acing was
s lit,
over t he a rea, t he
g ently pushed i nto the h ollow a nd a patch a pplied
a nd wherever more than one
l ength of
f rayed edges were g enerously overlapped. Once the
a dhesive was dry,
t he
f acing was c ut
f ollowing t he c racks a lready c hosen a s
( using a s calpel)
' dividing l ines'
s ection was c learly numbered a nd arrowed, up,
f acing was n eeded
( P1.1.5).
t o
a nd each
i ndicate the r ight way
o n the l oose a rea of f acing l eft projecting a t t op a nd bottom.
was now possible t o s tart d etaching t he p laster s ections E xperience
i n other r ooms
c ollapsing p isg d e
on t he
I t
f rom the wall.
s ite had s hown that d ebris
f rom t he
t erre had often a ccumulated between t he plaster a nd
t he s tone wall-footings providing a u seful such plaster dadoes.
However,
c leavage
l ine when r emoving
t he plaster u sually r emained well
a ttached
a t t he base of t he wall where a narrow but c onsiderably thicker band of preparation was normally f ound a ssociated w ith t he s econd-style plaster work was
( Fig.1.6).
U sing hammer a nd chisels,
a horizontal c ut
f irst made a long the base of t he wall in order t o
a t this point,
t hen,
s ection by s ection,
f ree the p laster
u sing l ong c hisels
t he plaster was g radually worked a way f rom the wall, f ace d ownwards o n prepared s upporting boards
( Pls.
a nd s calpels,
d etached a nd l aid
1 .6,7).
Where n ecessary
t he board was h eld a gainst the wall a nd plaster s ection and board g ently l owered t o t he ground t ogether.
F allen f ragments which h ad been
trapped behind t he d ado were c ollected a nd placed i n l abelled bags. The
s ections were then brought back t o
t he t emporary l aboratory
a nd work s tarted on c leaning a nd c onsolidation. f ace downwards on the s upporting boards, e arth and r oots
( P1.1.8).
With t he plaster l ying
t he back was
c leaned o f l oose
Three main methods were then u sed t o c on-
s olidate the back of the plaster:
v ery thin,
broken a nd f ragile f rag-
ments were given a c ontinuous backing o f a proprietary p laster a nd c ellulose 5 -10%
f iller
( Polyfilla );
weak f ragments were
c onsolidated with a
s olution i n a cetone o f a n ethyl a crylate/methyl methacrylate
copolymer
( Paraloid B 72);
l arge
c ontinuous a reas with f ine hairline
c racks were t emporarily backed with a t hin c otton c loth a nd 20% o f Paraloid B 72
i n a cetone.
s olution
When f ully c onsolidated f rom t he back,
( 13)
each s ection c ould be turned over a nd t he
f acing r emoved
( P1.1.9).
T he
f acing adhesive was partially d issolved u sing e ither a cetone o r, preferably,
9 5% e thyl
added ) . (14)
A s mall
a lcohol
a t ime a nd,
a s the adhesive
( with
a rea of t he
a v ery l ittle d istilled water
f acing was wetted w ith t he
s oftened,
t he
a way holding a s calpel or spatula o n t he m inimise danger of t he f ragile a reas
c loth's
s olvent a t
f acing was g ently r olled s urface o f t he plaster t o
catching a nd pulling f ragments a way i n
( P1.1.10 ).
1 5
Plate
1 .6.
A section of
faced wallplaster being r emoved u sing a
s upporting board.
P . 4
S ections o f
lying face down on r igid supports.
P late
1 .8.
The
t emporary l aboratory
of t he back.
s howing plaster
a fter
c leaning
The removal
4 1
0
0 H
H
a ) 4 r o H a
painted s urface.
P
a )
T he a s i t.
l argest c ontinuous
a r esult of t he After
l ength of p laster was
c ollapse o f t he walls and i t was
c onsiderably buckled d ecided t o
c leaning therefore t he back of the plaster was
wetted w ith
a cetone to s often the
f acing adhesive;
f latten
f airly l iberally
d istorted areas were
g ently pressed d ownwards a nd k ept weighed down while t he a cetone evaporated a nd t he
f acing adhesive r e-hardened.
T he back was
t hen
r einforced with c otton c loth a nd a 2 0% s olution o f P araloid B 72 a cetone. After r emoval of t he
f acing,
a preliminary c leaning was
i n
u ndertaken
o n the s urface t o r emove both t he r emains of t he adhesive a nd t he h eavy s ilicate encrustation over the paint l ayer.
This
u se of s urgical s calpels
s wabs s lightly moistened
i n d istilled water
a nd o f c otton w ool
( with a f ew d rops of non-ionic d etergent added )
r olled over t he s urface.
I t i s hoped t hat a fter f inal c leaning i t w ill
be possible t o m arry up t he d ado t o
5 .
The F resco
i nvolved t he c areful
: Technique
t he a lready r econstructed walls.
( Rosella F ilippi)
The p is6 d e t erre walls a t S ettefinestre a ppear t o have been s cored before a pplying t he p laster, preparation
l ayers.
S imilarly,
t ion s hows pick-axe marks, Thin
s ection a nalysis
r evealed that i t was of a pplication
t he
t o f acilitate t he
a dhesion o f t he
s nail pointing of t he s tone f ounda-
apparently
c arried out f or t he s ame purpose.
c arried out on s ix s amples o f t he p laster
c omposed o f f ive
l ayers.
T hese
c omprised,
i n o rder
( Fig.1.6):
f i ne p las te r ( a l) f i ne p las te r ( a2 ) 3l aye rs o f c oa rse p las te r ( b 1-3) s na i l p o in t ing
mosa ic
0000 1300 130C 100000000000 13 12
o pus s i gn inum
l m
F ig.
1 .6.
S ection o f wall
2 1
a nd pavement.
1 .
B 1 -3.
Three
l ayers of c oarse pale g rey plaster,
l ime a nd r iver sand,
with o ccasional
was e xtremely variable,
c onsisting of
f ragments of t ile.
The g rain
with a n average d iameter o f 4 mm.
s i
T he total
t hickness of t hese t hree l ayers varied f rom thirty f ive t o s ixty mm., w hile the i ndividual 2 1-25 mm., t o B 3 , 2 .
l ayers varied a s
B 3 /5-30 mm.
f ollows:
B 1 /13-18 mm.,
B 2 /
I t i s c lear t hat much of t he variation i s due
which r epresents t he i nitial l evelling c oat.
A 2 .
g eneous
A l ayer of white p laster s ome 9 mm. l ime and f ine c alcite
( ca.
2 mm.),
t hick,
c omposed o f homo-
whose u niform d imensions
s uggest s ieving. 3 .
1 .
A
t hick,
The
l ayer t o which the paint was a pplied.
c onsisting of l ime a nd v ery f ine
c ontained minute s urface,
c alcite.
f ragments of tourmaline,
which s uggests t hat a f inal
T his was c a.
1 mm.
T he uppermost part
o riented parallel
t o t he
s moothing was g iven t o t he
s urface b efore the paint was a pplied. T he n eighbourhood of t he v illa was probably t he materials u sed;
t he
s ourde o f a ll
t he
s and was presumably d erived f rom t he Albegna r iver,
while d eposits of t ourmaline a re present on t he i sland o f G iglio. The
f ive
s uccessive a pplications of plaster s een here may be
c ompared w ith the r ecommendations of Vitruvius. a pplications,
of which the
s ieved c alcite
( VI1,3,6).
l ast t hree
H e r ecommends
s even
s hould c ontain l ime a nd ground,
N either of these procedures was
f ollowed f or the preparation of painted wall plaster,
c onsistently
however;
t he
majority o f the plaster a t P ompeii consists of only two or t hree
l ayers,
while t he rather e xpensive c alcite was often substituted by s and. presence a t S ettefinestre of c alcite a s w ell a s
The
f ive successive
a pplications of plaster i ndicates the r elatively h igh quality of t he workmanship.
6 .
The D ecoration
( Mariette d e Vos)
All t he d ecorative e lements of the v illa are r ecorded o n t he r ecord s heet presented here
( Figs.1.7,8 ) .( 15 ) This particular s heet i s
d esigned t o be used on the t hree main c omponents of a r oom 's d ecorat ion - pavement, f ound i n t he
walls a nd c eiling,
a s well a s
f or d ecorative e lements
c ourse of t he e xcavation s uch a s stuccoed c ornices or
c olumns. The bringing together o f a ll t he d ecorative e lements i n a r oom i nto a s ingle r ecord s heet has been c arried out l ess
f or practical
e conomic r easons than f or t he n ecessity t o c onsider t hem a s a spect of t he building. on one
c lass o f material
i conography,
This works
c onsequent
s tylistic variation e tc.)
l oss of t he s ocial,
of the whole.
a gainst t he t endency t o c oncentrate
o r a s ingle a spect
r elationship between a rchitectural ( 16)
a nd
a s ingle
( technique,
c onservation,
a nd t hereby t o obscure t he
f orm a nd i ts d ecoration,
w ith t he
psychological a nd f unctional c onnotations
Only f rom a n analytic c atalogue
c an one g et a
c omprehensive v iew o f the d ecoration. Examination of t he i n room 1 2
( Fig.1.6)
r elationship between the pavement a nd t he wall
r eveals
a c haracteristic c ommon t o
2 2
a ll r ooms of
t he
f irst phase o f t he v illa:
preparation continue 1 3 upper l ayers l ayers
cm.
( A 1 a nd 2 )
t he primary l ayers
below t he
( No.3
in B 1 -3)
l evel of t he pavement.
c over t he margin o f t he mosaic.
o f
The two
These two
a re keyed t ogether i mmediately a bove the l evel o f t he mosaic. ( 17)
The mosaic i n r oom 1 2
i s preserved only a long t he edges,
protected by t he wall plaster. i t i s
c omposed o f white
r oom.
T his
i s t he
the villa.
The r est was
where i t was
r obbed i n a ntiquity.
Here
t esserae running obliquely to t he a xis of t he
c ase i n a ll
A more or l ess
t he other mosaics
f rom t he
f irst phase of
square d epression i n t he preparation at the
c entre of t he r oom suggests t he presence of a n emblema,
placed at t he
i ntersection of t he a xes of t he a rchitectural motives on the walls. ideal v iewpoint f or t he walls
r emains
The
t he e ntrance t o the r oom f rom t he
peristyle. The d ecorative
s cheme o f t he s ide walls
i s a t ri-partite s tage
s etting i n the t radition o f t he P ompeian s econd s tyle.
I t r epresents
three a ediculae w ith a rchitrave a nd projecting l intel.
T he c entral
building i s c ornice, These • are
s eparated f rom the viewer by a s creen with a d entillated
those o n the
s tructures
s ide with gates t opped with a r ow o f s pikes
a re painted on a blue ground s uggesting the s ky,
s ituated i n a portico with d ark pink pilasters,
t o be wooden.
The e nd wall
a edicula preserved by s wans.
i s a lso t ripartite
( Fig.1.4)
Hanging a t the
possibly
i n f orm.
missing,
has a l intel with modillions,
s upported while on t he
i f t his
i s not a
The area between t his s tructure a nd t he plinth i s
probably because
i t c oincides with t he break between the s tone
f oundations of t he wall and the part i n p is6 l iable to s hatter.
i ntended
The s ingle
c entre a re a pelta a nd g arlands,
s creen blocking t he door t here a ppears t o be a p inax, window i n the s creen.
( aculei). a nd
d e
t erre,
a nd was
t hereby
This would probably have s hown a podium with project-
ing wings. The
l ight i n the painting i s keyed t o t he n atural l ight-source o f
the r oom,
i ts e ntrance onto the peristyle.
i s n ot v ery a ccurate. t he
c losest s eems
on the Palatine
T he h erring-bone perspective
There a re n o e xact parallels
t o be t he Room o f the Masks
( 36-28 B .C.,
f or t his
s cheme but
i n t he H ouse of Au9ustus
l ast period of t he s econd s tyle).
d esign of t hree a ediculae on e ach wall Rome o r i n the V esuvian c entres
i s uncommon,
( 1d)
The
but when f ound at
i t i s among t he r ichest d ecorations.
S ettefinestre p rovides one of t he f ew e xamples of s econd-style d ecorat ion n orth of R ome a part f rom the c omplexes o f B olsena 3 32-388), 2 53)
Ancona
a nd G lanum
1 970:57-
( EAA
B rescia,
We a re l ess well-informed on the c eiling. i n perspective,
T he
s mall panel painted
which a ppears to have c ome
i f i ndeed i t was n ot c arried out i n s tucco.
yellowish plaster previously mentioned i s
a round the peristyle,
d ecoration,
where they underline the a rchitectonic a rticulation 1 -4;
a s
c eiling would have been more
s tructure, the
i n g eneral
Van Buren 1 924:112-122).
i n r oom 1 2 may b e e xplained i f one the
Stucco
a lthough t hey a re f ound i n a number o f
other r ooms
3 ,
T he
c learly d erived f rom the
hut i ts poor quality c ontrasts with t he wall plaster.
c ornices a re c ompletely l acking,
( Vitruvius V II
f rom
s uggests that t he original c eiling may a lso have been
painted with c offers, c eiling,
1 963:251-
( Barbet 1 974:11).
t o r epresent c offers t he a rchitrave,
( Barbet 1 971:
( Mirabella R oberti
i n l ate r epublican The a bsence of t hese
s uggests that t he reeds s upporting
l iable t o r ot t han the r est of t he
a nd t hat t he c ollapse o f the c eiling would have b rought down
s tuccoes.
T he c eiling would t hen have been r estored w ithout s tuccoes
2 3
L OCATION
1 YEAR
TRENCH
R OOM
D ECORATIVE S TRATIG RAPHIC UNIT
I N S ITU
AND/OR R ECONSTRUCTED PLANS
S ECTIONS
ELEVATIONS
P HOTOGRAPHS
D EFINITION AND C OLLOCATION T ECHNIQUE O F FACING I
IMATERIAL(S)
L AYER
2 ° ,
10
T HICKNESS MM
3 °
( MATRIX )
S EQUENCE
S TRATIGRAPHIC
z
0
C OVERED B Y
5 C . ]
C 4 e d
B UTTED B Y
A BOVE
C f 3
S EQUENCE
P HYSICAL
I DENTICAL T O
B ELOW
40
M IN MAX u z
I NORGANIC
H
C OMPONENTS
u < 0: 1
c alcite,
( sand,
w = H
l ana,
l ime, p ozzo-
g rog,
o ther)
ORGANIC
r .
C OMPONENTS
0
z o ' ' E i
( straw,
r eeds,
o ther)
FACING
( plain,
brush marks, o ther) C OLOURS S UPERIMPOSITION O F C OLOUR LAYERS O THER CHEME ' DECORATIVE S
PROFILES
F ig.
1 .7.
R ecording s heet f or e lements o f a rchitectural d ecoration.
2 4
,
C OLOURS
4 H
MATERIALS ( stone,
v itreous,
c eramic) FORM ( surface) D IMENSIONS m in max m ed H EIGHT N o p er
( 1 . )
m i z u
4
e C I) W
1 00 C M2
W EAVE
R ELATIONSHIP B ETWEEN ARCHITECTURE AND D ECORATION
DATING E LEMENTS
DATING
P ERIOD
S TYLE
P HASE
B IBLIOGRAPHY
,
S TATE O F P RESERVATION
PARALLELS
S UPERFICIAL D EPOSITS
H EAVY I NCRUSTATIONS
D EGREE O F ADHESION
D EGREE O F C OHESION .
G APS
S IGNS O F W EAR
O THER
C ONSOLIDATION
A DHESIVE
FABRIC FACING
D ETACHING
PACKING
T EMPORARY C OVERING
S AMPLE(S)
LABORATORY L OCATION
F OR ANALYSIS
S UPERVISOR
DATE
F ig.1.8.
R ecording s heet 2 5
( reverse ).
or painting. This d ecorative half of the
scheme,
probably dating
f irst century B .C.,
with other d ecorative e lements ln opus sectile impluvium
f rom the
i s
in the
s econd
f rom the villa such a s the scutulatum
' Corinthian'
( a cyma between two
f rom early
i nteresting when placed on conjunction
t ori).
oecus or the profile of the
t ufo
I f these e lements had been found on
their own the suggested dating might have been considerably earlier. ( 19) As
i t i s,
t hey
suggest a c onservative element i n the decoration of the
villa.
7 .
The
I conographic S cheme
The appears
( M.
i conography of the
t o have
s cene
its origins
i n the
f oreground rest on a podium, t hree aediculae, t ion
( Figs.
e ssential frons
while
represented on the walls of the oecus theatre.
The wooden pilasters
the middle d istance
The tripartite
s cheme of the walls
f eature of ancient theatre,
into t hree doors,
r ecalls an
the arrangement of the scaenae
representing the three houses of the c entral Aediculae were used as temporary architec-
( 20 )
features on the s tage.
decorative e lements
Their architectural
( garlands,
ribbons,
s hields,
f ramework and t heir e tc.)
c an be
paralleled with t hose depicted on the Apulian vases of the B .C.
These,
i n t he
i s occupied by
with gates painted to suggest their wooden c onstruc-
1 .3,4).
characters of the play. tural
Letizia P aoletti)
and the paraskenia,
c lose
I Vth c entury
or wings projecting f rom t he
s tage,
a re
said to have been introduced into the Roman tradition of t emporary wooden theatre who were world.
f rom Apulia by Livius Andronicus,
among the
Aediculae
Plautus
f .
a s can be
I n the
i nferred f rom Asinaria 4 24
f orm r epresented here the
consisted of two or more columns roof,
The 1 ,
the
2 )
s eems to be
and
and supporting
room.
s upported by a passage
a
d erived from
f rom Vitruvius
which mentions scaenarum frontes among decorative ( 21)
Further,
( VII,
subjects
f or
The use of these motives provided t he opportunity
s uggest i llusionistic
public
framing a doorway,
s uggestion that the decoration of this r oom i s
wall paintings. to
f .
a rchitectural design
( Fig.1.9).
theatre design 5 ,
and Pacuvius, to the Latin
c ontinued in the Latin theatre under the major c omedians
and Terence,
Amphitryo 1008
Ennius
f irst transmitters of Greek c ulture
space,
thereby i ncreasing t he
t he r eference to
spaces underlined the
the architectural
apparent s ize of treatment of
l uxurious nature of the private house
i n
which the paintings were e xecuted.
NOTES 1 .
E lizabeth Fentress
translated this paper;
Mariette d e
Elizabeth Fentress and Elizabeth Pye prepared it
Vos,
f or publication.
Jason Wood undertook the r edrawing of t he f igures. 2 .
The excavation i s
supported by both an Italian and a British
Committee and f inanced by t he Regione T oscana, Nazionale delle Ricerche, Academy,
t he C onsiglio
the University of Pisa,
the British
the Gordon Childe Fund of t he U niversity of London
2 6
Fig. 1 .9.
I sometric reconstruction of the e ast wall.
2 7
s tage r epresented on the
I nstitute of Archaeology,
the Cotton Foundation,
of the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge,
t he Society of Antiquaries of London a nd
the Trustees of the British Museum. excavation was published in the S .Settis,
1 979)
in
ted by S .Settis, well 3 .
4
a s
A full
interim r eport on the
s ummer of 1 979
conjunction with a special
r ecent excavations
and r esearch
No.24,
Painter pp.9-22).
K .
and she was
technique described below, ordinated the Filippi,
a s
V illas in Italy,
( British Museum,
O ccasional Paper,
excavation of the wallplaster f rom r oom 1 2 was
E lizabeth Fentress,
i n Italy,
s ince December 1 978.
An i nterim r eport was a lso produced i n R oman
The
( A.Carandini and exhibition coordina-
which has been shown i n many t owns
i n England and France
1 980 ed.
the Craven Fund
the Faculty of C lassics of t he
r esponsible
supervised by
f or the excavation
helped by Fulvia Donati,
who has
c o-
Italian c onservation g roup consisting of Rossella
Cristina Panerai
and L etizia Paoletti,
whose work has been the restoration of this
the
r oom.
r esult of
Stylistic
analysis of the decoration of the villa has been undertaken by Mariette de Vos.
The British Conservation team c onsisted of
Elizabeth Pye and students
f rom the Conservation Department,
University of London I nstitute of Archaeology. responsible that still
f or working out a method of d etaching t he wallplaster adhered to the bottom of the walls,
a lso being undertaken by groups
5 .
Barbet
and
f rom the
i s now
S ince t he
I stituto Centrale
has also participated i n t his work. ( 1969)
3 27,328)
s uggests
provides
not discuss
i ts
excavation using a grid.
Durante
a phenomenology of plaster c ollapse,
excavation.
Recently,
R .
Sabrie
miraculously similar i n the exhibition P isa-Rome
to our Figs.
1 .1 and 1 .2
( 1977: but does
( 1980 )
published an article on excavation t echniques with
6 .
this
f rom S iena and P isa.
s ummer of 1 980 a group of restorers ( Rome)
the
Miss Pye was
has
f igures
( previously presented
' Schiavi e Padroni i n Etruria Meridionale'
1 978-79).
I t i s possible that a large proportion of t he t iles were before the
abandonment of the villa,
a s the number
s alvaged
f ound i n
e xcavation never coincides with t hat required t o cover a r oom. This might
account
f or the
f act t hat in one room a large s heet
of plaster had f allen d irectly onto t he pavement, of the remainder of the r oof.
Holes
before the
f all
l eft i n the r oof by r obbing
had hastened the detachment of the wall plaster. 7 .
The conservation of the wall plaster t ook place the
I nstitute of Archaeology a t P isa,
ance of S .
Settis
and t he
in a laboratory i n
provided by the k ind a ssist-
d irector of the
I nstitute,
L .
Beschi.
The work of conservation was undertaken by numerous
students
the
G .
L .
Institute, Neri,
G .
among t hem I .
Ricci and A .
John- Olive of the London grateful
Attolini,
Vittori,
R .
a s well
Camaiora,
a s L inda Mitchell a nd
I nstitute of Archaeology.
f or the help of Pierluigi Campagni,
We a re also
s ecretary o f the
I nstitute.
We benefitted greatly f rom a month spent in t he
t ory of A .
Barbet at the Centre d 'gtude d es
Romaines M .
at Soissons,
Picchi.
The
l abora-
Peintures Murales
and from t he advice of P .
and L .
c onservation of Roman wall painting
2 8
a t
L ippi,
i s
Mora and d iscussed
by Barbet, 8 .
1 969
While Barbet
a nd n .d.
N o.2.
( 1969:78-79)
suggests that t he r emoval o f the
preparation l ayer should t ake place only during t he l ast s tages of r econstruction we f ound t hat an early r emoval was
i mposed by
the d ifficulty of l aying out adjoining pieces of u nequal t hickn ess w ithout e normous i ng the the
s and t rays.
f ragments t ogether i s
j oins.
As l ong a s a ny evidence
the preparation platter i s no r eason why t his 9 .
Further,
r emoval a fter stick-
a lmost impossible without r ebreaking f or wall c onstruction f ound on
f ully r ecorded before r emoval we
s ee
s hould not take place i mmediately.
The pack suggested by P .
and L .
effect on the i ncrustation, not r esistant t o water.
Mora
( 1972:4)
had
a c ertain
but t ended t o r emove c ertain c olours
A d entist's d rill was
a lso
t ried,
but
this proved r isky a nd not particularly effective. 1 0.
The r est of t his wall a ppears c ase l eading t o t he b asis
1 1.
t o have
f allen down i nto t he s tair-
v illa.
The t eam c onsisted o f E lizabeth P ye,
Richard Jaeschke a nd G illian
Juleff. 1 2.
P olyvinylacetate emulsion c an be d iluted with water, no u npleasant or t oxic
s olvent vapours,
r elatively s low rate of d rying.
has g ood
Vinavil 5 9
g ives off
' tack'
i s u sed by
and a
Italian
r estorers who f ind i t r emains r eversible over a c onsiderable period of t ime. 1 3.
Acetone was u sed i n t he a bsence of a ny other s uitable There was, ( polyvinyl
of c ourse, a cetate)
a s light danger t hat t he
might
r emained f ace d ownwards,
s often,
1 4.
l ong a s
t he p laster
u ndisturbed and f ully s upported on a
board there was no d ifficulty; evaporated the
but a s
s olvent.
f acing adhesive
once t he a cetone had f ully
f acing adhesive had again hardened.
Ethyl a lcohol was u sed a s i t was t he only a lcohol o btainable l ocally.
I t was preferred because of i ts
s lower evaporation rate
but i t was c onsiderably more expensive than a cetone.
Addition of
water t o t he a lcohol i ncreases the working t ime but may overwet the plaster i n t he
f ragile a reas.
Therefore,
where t he plaster
s urface was e xceptionally f ragile e ither e thyl a cetone or a mixture o f t he two were u sed, u sed t o r emove the
a lcohol
a lone or
a nd a lcohol was
a lways
f acing f rom a reas c onsolidated o r backed w ith
Paraloid B 72. 1 5.
Record s heet n ow u sed by the
I stituto per i l Catalogo e l a
Documentazione of t he Ministero d ei B eni Culturali e Ambientali. The s taff of t he I stituto Centrale d el R estauro c ollaborated o n the s ection r ecording c onservation. 1 6.
Corlaita S cagliarini
1 976,
Clarke
S ee a lso t he r ather t heoretical
1 979;
d e Vos
1 979;
Joyce
1 979.
s tructuralist a nalysis of B runeau,
1 976. 1 7.
A number
o f f ragments of t ile with herring-bone i ncisions
nail-locks which s erved f or t he
2 9
a nd
adhesion of t he p laster were
f ound
at Settefinestre, i s only one Marinaio
( VII
in northern 20 ) 1 8.
1 5,
very
a t ile
2 ,d ;
At Pompeii t here
Gaedechens 1 872). Rimini,
Their use i s attested
( Zuffi
1 964:73-4 and Fig.
( Tosi 1 978:151).
1 961;
c lose,
f ound i n s itu.
f ixed i n the doorpost i n the Casa d el
Italy at Bolsena,
and Trento
Carettoni
but none was
example,
Beyen 1 969.
if not of the
Another house
same workshop
at Pompeii
( I,
6 ,
2 -4,
i s stylistically Casa d el
Criptoportico ). 1 9.
Carandini,
Settis
i n opus sectile t hrough to the
1 979 pl.
date
28.
Scutulatum pavements carried out
f rom the s econd half of the
f irst quarter of the
2 nd c entury B .C.
f irst c entury B .C.
At Pompeii
there are two
examples contemporary with the
s econd style:
t he Villa of Diomede a nd the House of Triptolemos
( VII,
7 ,
5 ;
in tufo are
d e Vos
1 979,
116 and n .
4 9).
f irst phase of t he
I n P ompeii t he.impluvia
generally c onsidered to be pre-sullan
( Fadda
1 975:
161-66). 20.
O n the
c onstruction of wooden
Pliny N .
2 1.
H .
XXXVI,
1 14;
s tage sets Vitruvius V ,
Tacitus Ann.
X IV,
20;
6 ,
3 -8;
Pollux O nomasticon
IV,
1 24
f .
The
idea that theatre d esign influenced painting of t he s econd
s tyle has been d enied, Picard
( 1977).
on the paintings a s
such,
most recently by Engemann
However,
from Settefinestre a re unique
and that the
( 1967)
and
i t should be noted that all three doors
composition of the whole
i n being r epresented f its perfectly into
what i s known of the development of Roman theatre d esign.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Barbet,
A .
n .d.
Bulletin
d e l iaison
Peinture Murale Romaine Barbet,
A .
1 969
r omaine' Barbet,
A .
d u Centre
d 'f itude sur la
2 a nd 4 .
' La r estauration d es peintures murales d 'epoque
G allia
1 971
nos.
1 7
( 1969)
7 1-92.
' Peintures murales
d e d euxieme style proveant d e
terrasse Sud -Est,
zone A ,
d e
( Poggio Moscini)
Rome a Bolsena
couche
3 '
Fouilles II,
la
d e l itcole Francaise
les architectures Rome,
3 21-388. Barbet,
A .
1 974
G allia Sup. Barbet,
A and Allag,
dans Beyen,
' Recueil 2 7
H . _
C .
1 972
' Techniques
d e preparation d es parois
MEFRA 8 4
( 1972)
9 35-1069.
' Die neuentdeckten Malereien auf d en Palatin'
P .
3 9
( 1964)
Bulletin A ntieke
1 40-143).
' La mosaique grecque
Archeologia Warzawa
l a Gaule'
1 1-65.
la peinture murale romaine'
Beschaving, Bruneau,
g eneral d es peintures murales d e
( 1974)
( 1976)
c lassique et hellenistique' 3 8-42.
30
Carandini,
A .
and S ettis,
meridionale. Carettoni,
G .
S .
1 961
J .
1 979
pompeiana', M .
( 1961)
1 89-199.
R oman B lack a nd W hite F igural Mosaics.
Corlaita S cagliarini,
d e Vos,
Schiavi e padroni nell'Etruria
' I due n uovi ambienti d ipinti s ul P alatino'
Bollettino d 'Arte 4 6 C larke,
1 959
B ari.
D .
1 976
Palladio
1 979a
N ew Y ork.
' Spazio e d ecorazione n ella pittura
3 3-35
( 1974-1976)
' Pavimenti e mosaici',
3 -44.
P ompei
7 9.
Naples
1 979,
1 61-176. d e Vos,
M .
1 979b
' Synopsis d el r epertorio o rnamentale d i pitture e
pavimenti d i t erzo s tile' s tile, Durante,
i n Bastet,
F .,
d e Vos,
M .,
I l
t erzo
T he Hague.
A .
1 977
' Gli i ntonaci d ipinti d ella d omus o rientale
d egli Affreschi)'
i n F rova,
A .,
et a l.
Scavi
d i
Lund
I I,
( Casa Rome
1 977:327-328 and P l.V. EAA:
E nciclopedia d i 1 970.
Engemann,
J .,
Stils' Fadda,
N .
arte a ntica,
c lassica e orientale.
S upplemento
Roma 1 973. 1 967
' Architekturdarstellungen d es
RM S uppl.
1 975
1 2,
' Gli i mpluvi modanati d elle c ase d i P ompei'
F orschungen i n P ompeji Gaedechens,
R .
f ruhen z weiten
H eidelberg.
1 872
R ecklinghausen 1 975,
' Nuovi s cavi d i Pompei;
Bullettino d ell'Istituto d i
Neue
1 61-166.
l a s trada d el g allo'
C orrispondenza Archeologica 1 872,
1 61-177. Joyce,
H .
1 979
' Form,
f unction and t echnique
D elos a nd P ompeii', AJA 8 3 Lanciani,
R .
1 871
( 1979)
i n t he pavements o f
2 53-263.
' Recenti s coperti i n Roma e n eu e v icinanze'
Bullettino d ell'Istituto d e C orrispondenza Archeologica 1 871, 2 1-30. Mirabella Roberti, Mora,
P .
1 967.
M .
1 963
' Proposte
Storia d e Brescia I Brescia. s ulla t ecnica d ella pittura murale r omana'
Bullettino d ell'Istituto C entrale Mora,
P .,
a nd L .
Atti
1 977
RA S abrig,
Restauro,
' Problemi d i C onservazione'
1 967,
i n G .
6 3-84.
Urbani ed.:
d ella Commdssione p er lo sviluppo t ecnologico d ella
C onservazione d ei Beni Ricard,
d el
G .,
1 977
( 1977) R .
Gaule,
C ulturale.
Tome
1 977:4-16.
' Peinture e t thdatre a u Ier
s iècle a vant J .-C.'
1 78-179.
1 980 actes
' La
f ouille d es enduits peints'
d es s gmlnaires.
3 1
D ijon 1 980,
Peinture murale e n
5 3-60.
T osi,
G . 4 9
' La c asa romana d i via A . ( 1978)
Van Buren,
A .
( 1924) Z uffi,
M . S tudi
Rosmini a T rento'
Aquileia nostra
1 51-162. ' The t echnique of s tucco c eilings a t Pompeii'
J RS 1 4
1 12-122.
1 964
' Nuove s coperte d i a rcheologica e s toria r iminese'
r omagnoli
1 3
( 1964)
7 3-74.
3 2
2 .
THE ROOTS OF PROVINCIAL ROMAN PAINTING
R ESULTS OF CURRENT RESEARCH I N NERO 'S DOMUS AUREA W .J.Th.
Peters
a nd P .G.P.
Meyboom
Students o f provincial R oman wall-painting l ooking f or parallels i n
I taly will
i nevitably c ome a cross N ero's D omus Aurea,
o r rather t he
pavilion of t hat enormous c omplex which i s v ery l argely preserved u nder the ruins
o f t he baths o f T rajan o n the Colle Oppio i n Rome.
That i s
s ufficient r eason f or u s t o d raw a ttention t o t he r esearch which we have been c arrying out over t he that s ame building.
l ast f ew years
i nto the paintings
i n
1
I t would have been l ogical t o have p ostponed a s tudy o f t he painting i n the D omus Aurea until our I talian c olleagues had c ompleted t heir a rchitectural r esearch, t ions.
H owever,
2
which i s being s upported by n ew e xcava-
t he c ontinuing d eterioration o f t he p aintings,
f ar a s t hey have been preserved, which means
i n
s o
has now r eached a c ritical phase
t hat f urther postponement would be unjustifiable.
The most i mportant e xcavations
a nd s ome publications
The f irst e xtensive e xcavations t o be c alled t he b aths a rchitect Ch. t he R omans,
o f T itus,
i n t he D omus Aurea, which u sed
were c arried o ut by t he E nglish
Cameron who r eported o n them i n his book T he Baths of
L es b ains d es R omains of 1 772.
I n 1 774 t he Roman a rt
3
dealer Ludovico Mirri partially excavated e leven r ooms. number of drawings of walls
H e had a
a nd vaults made a nd published t hem i n the
f orm of e ngravings with a text by Giuseppe C arletti i n L e a ntiche c amere
d elle T e nne d i
tions were his
T ito e le loro p itture of
c onducted f rom 1 811 t o 1 814 by A .
r esults i n L e a ntiche c amere e squiline d ette
T erme
d i
T ito i n
e xcavations.
1 822.
I n 1 912,
I nstituts, t ion,
2 8
A .
Munoz
a nd F .
The l atter gave a n a ccount of t he
' Das Goldene H aus d es Nero' ( 1913),
i n J ahrbuch d es
1 27-244.
d i Roma.
Other e xcavawho published
c omunemente d elle Weege began t heir
f indings
i n h is a rticle
D eutschen Archäologischen
From 1 931 onwards,
5
with the odd i nterrup-
T he r ecent l iterature on t he Domus Aurea i s v ery v oluminous.
a rchitecture or painting.
of those on the vaults, o f great i mportance. l a D omus Aurea'
e ither
f rom the point o f v iew
F or t he s tudy o f the paintings,
the book by N icole D acos,
D omus Aurea et l a f ormation
d es
grotesques
This a uthor a lso wrote
i n D ialoghi
L a
e specially
d dcouverte
d e l a
a l a r enaissance o f 1 969,
d i archeologia,
2 ( 1968),
The building history of t he pavilion i n question, a s Domus Aurea f or the s ake of c onvenience,
3 3
i s
' Fabullus et l 'autre peintre 2 10-226.
Building history a nd i nhabitants
r efer t o
6
up t o t oday t here has been n o s ingle publication that has
c overed e verything which i s n ow a vailable,
d e
4
e xcavations were carried out by t he S oprintendenza Archeologica
H owever, o f
1 776.
d e Romanis,
which we will
i s extremely
E o _ i n
-
z
c omplicated i n 6 4 A .D. building.
( fig.
2 .1 ).
B uilding b egan a fter t he G reat F ire o f R ome
7
P arts o f e xisting buildings w ere i ncorporated i nto t he n ew Even d uring t he building s tage a nd b efore p laster a nd paint
w ere a pplied,
a ll k inds o f c hanges w ere made.
i n s ize or blocked u p, c losed o ff.
I n o rder t o build t he n ymphaeum n o.45, n o.20,
8
t wo r ooms,
Throughways w ere r educed
a nd w indows were t urned i nto n iches o r c ompletely
nos.
4 6 a nd 6 9,
e ast o f t he p eristyle
whose walls had a lready b een
f urnished w ith paintings had t o b e partially d emolished,
F rom t his
a nd f rom o ther i ndications i n t he s ame s urroundings o ne c an c onclude t hat t he n ymphaeum a nd t he r ooms o f t he p eristyle w ing c onnected t o i t a re m ore r ecent t han t he r ooms l eading d irectly o nto t he c ourtyard .
O f t he c hanges t o t he l arge e xedra n o.
f ive-sided
4 4, b etween t he
p eristyle n o.20 a nd t he o pen c ourtyard i n f ront o f t he n ymphaeum n o.45, t he a lterations whereby t he n orth a nd s outh walls were s trengthened i n o rder to c arry a l arge b arrel v ault i s of particular i mportance f or d ating t he paintings i n t he n eighbouring r oom n o.48. c lear t races o f c ores of non-imperial habitation, i n the beam h oles of t he f loors,
F inally,
t here a re
principally e vident
b y means o f which u pper s toreys w ere
b uilt i n t he h igh r ooms. O ccupation of t he pavilion e nded i n 1 04 A .D.
when t hose p arts
t hat c ould be u sed a s s uch w ere made i nto a s ubstructure o f t he baths o f T rajan. T o t he e ast a s ection w as d emolished. T he o ctagonal d omed r oom n o.128, which n ow l ies o ff-centre, m ost probably o riginally l ay o n t he a xis o f t he b uilding; c ourtyard,
t here w as c ertainly a s econd f ive-sided
a nd presumably t he preserved p eristyle had i ts c ounterpart
t o the e ast.
9
When t he b uilding f ell i nto d isuse,
s uch a s t he marble o f t he d ados, l argely f i ned w ith r ubble,
t he c ostly material,
was r emoved a nd t he r ooms w ere v ery
w hich s till has not e ntirely b een r emoved.
The r enaissance a rtists who made s ketches of t he paintings - which t hey c alled g rotesques - a t t he e nd of t he f ifteenth c entury walked o n t op o f the r ubble a nd o nly s aw t he u pper z ones o f t he walls a nd v aults.
1°
Among t he d ata a vailable t o u s a bout t he building h istory o f t he D omus Aurea a nd, c onsequently, a bout i ts w all-paintings t here a re a n umber of written s ources.
W ithin t he
f ramework o f t his paper,
t he
f ollowing a re i mportant. Tacitus N ero,
3 1 )
( Annals XV,
3 9 a nd 4 2)
a nd S uetonius
( De
V ita C aesarum,
t ell u s t hat t he Domus Transitoria burnt d own i n 6 4 A .D.
a nd
t hat t he building of t he D omus Aurea b egan s ubsequently. S uetonius
( De V ita
C aesarum, V II,
O tho,
f irst a ct a s a r uler was t o v ote a s um o f ( 50,000,000 s esterces)
7 )
s tates t hat Otho's
' quingenties s estertium'
f or t he c ompletion o f t he Domus Aurea.
w e d o not k now w hether t his m oney w as
H owever,
f ully or partially u sed f or i ts
i ntended purpose during O tho's t hree months' t hat Otho r egarded t he D omus Aurea a s t he
r eign.
W e c an c onclude
i mperial d welling b ut i t
s hould b e n oted t hat t he pavilion t hat w e k now r emained u nfinished. N ero's D omus Aurea, 4 ,2)
w e r ead i n D io Cassius
c ould not s atisfy V itellius,
( Historia R omana 6 5,
a nd his w ife G aleria r idiculed t he
m eagre amounts of d ecoration f ound i n t he r oyal a partments.
F rom t his
t ext o ne m ight d educe t hat t he i mperial f amily d id n ot l ive i n t he D omus Aurea.
H owever,
one o ught t o a llow f or t he p ossibility t hat,
a fter a ctually moving i n,
V itellius a nd G aleria d id not f ind t heir
s tay i n t he a s y et u nfinished pavilion t o t heir l iking. P liny t he E lder r eports i n h is N aturalis H istoria
3 5
( XXXIV ,
8 4)
V I,
t hat Vespasian had t he s tatues t hat N ero had erected i n h is D omus Aurea d edicated i n t he Temple o f Peace. V espasian's policy, F lavium,
This
f itted i n perfectly w ith
f or it was he who i ncidentally had t he Amphitheatrum
known to u s a s the C olosseum,
l arge c entral pond i n N ero's
built o n t he v ery s pot where t he
t own v illa l ay.
We cannot expect t his
emperor t o have c ompleted a n u ndertaking begun by Nero. P liny t he Elder a lso writes i n his N aturalis H istoria t hat i n his t ime the L aocoon g roup was t o be C .C.
van E ssen 11
the year 1 506
has
c onvincingly s hown,
f ound i n T itus'
s erved pavilion,
but not i n
a s Weege 12
Pliny mentioned a bove a s pavilion i n question.
r oom n o.129
c laimed.
house.
3 7) As
t his group was d iscovered i n
i n t he n eighbourhood of S ette S ale,
of t he Domus Aurea,
( XXXVI,
a ctually on t he s ite
( Weege n o.80 )
S o one
c annot u se
of t he pre-
t he e xtract f rom
d irect evidence that Titus o ccupied t he
The paintings Most o f t he paintings of t he Domus Aurea can be a ttributed t o t he phase
of imperial occupation,
a nd s ome to t he non-imperial phase.
A number of r ooms were n ot provided w ith paintings a t a ll, i n t he
e ither
i mperial phase or s ubsequently. I n many r ooms where t he paintings were i ndeed c ompleted during
t he building phase,
t he d ado was never f aced w ith marble a s had b een
p lanned a nd t he wall
r emained u nplastered.
I n a number of c ases t he
z one r eserved f or t he marble d ado was plastered i n a l ater phase,
a fter
which it was e ither d ecorated or l eft blank. Generally s peaking t he paintings whose r emnants a re o ne c an s ay v ery l ittle a bout t heir s ystem,
s o f ew that
w ill not be i ncluded i n t his
brief overview. The paintings of the period of i mperial o ccupation Before we d eal w ith t he paintings of t he period o f i mperial o ccupation of t he Domus Aurea,
we
s hould bear i n mind t hat,
e xception o f t he d ome of t he o ctagonal a nd the e xedra no.44,
which i s
a pplied everywhere to t he r elief-work; more
s ituated i n
vaults,
s tate.
Thus
i n t he
where the vaulting began,
paintings w ere
c ombination w ith p laster
t he
( Fabullus),
c entral r oom o f t he west wing,
the wellknown
' carcer', 1 4
' volta d elle
c ivette'.
( Naturalis H istoria
t he prison,
f ound .
t o
o f t he
X XXV,
1 3
1 20 ),
t he
art o f t he painter
H e s pent o nly a f ew hours a d ay i n
painting a nd he a lways wore a t oga, plaster r elief,
no.29,
a nd f or t his r eason t here w ere not many o ther
e xamples of h is work to b e a scribes
The
f acing went i n t he
t he marble panelling r eached t o t he point
According to P liny t he E lder D omus Aurea was
D acos 15
i n
r oom t he h igher the marble
t he s outh of t he peristyle,
Famulus
f ront of i t,
s ometimes
w ith t he
t he nymphaeum no.45
h owever t he a rt on t he walls took a s ubordinate r ole.
important the
original
r oom no.128,
even o n t he
s caffolding.
to h im t he more e laborate paintings both o n
t he walls
a nd t he vaults.
not i nvolved i n t he mural painting s ystems a nd t he
N icole
a ccentuated b y
H e was v ery l ikely r ather s imple v ault
d ecorations which w ill b e d iscussed i n t his paper. When s tudying t he paintings
o f t he
i mperial phase,
we d eal w ith
Mirri and Carletti).
PLATE
2 .2:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
( Copyright
room no.
4 2,
Nijmegen University).
east wall
various
s ystems which c an be d ivided i nto two main groups:
a e xtremely e laborate o rnamental f acades which o ccupy t he main a nd upper z ones and which,
with one e xception,
c an be c lassified u nder
' scaenae f rontes'; b walls whose middle o ccasion,
of s imple
z ones
i n t he main c onsist o f f ields o r,
s caenae f rontes,
o n
c ombined with s imple s caenae
f rontes o r a ediculae c onnected by l inear patterns
i n o ne o r more upper
z ones. The f irst g roup of paintings
i s n ot o f d irect i nterest f or t he
s tudy of p rovincial-Roman painting, c annot do without i t,
but within t he g eneral
s o w e will d eal with
i t briefly.
The
f ramework w e s impler
paintings of t he l atter group d o o ffer d irect l inks with p rovincial a rt, a nd t hese will b e d ealt with more e xtensively. Hypotactic
o rnamental
f acades o r s caenae f rontes
T he e laborated s caenae f rontes
i n t he D omus Aurea d ivide
i nto
two g roups: a those with s omewhat h eavy a rchitecture f or t he f ourth s tyle
- a lbeit not a bnormally s o
- which i s polychrome on a white background,
o ccasionally a ccentuated by means o f p laster r elief; b t hose with v ery l ight a rchitecture which i s usually p olychrome, t imes o ligochrome,
a nd
One example f rom each g roup will b e d ealt with. c haracteristic r epresentatives
f rom e ach o f t he
unfortunately o nly known t o u s through the t han t wo c enturies vague
t races
T he most
t wo s ystems a re
e ngravings published more
a go by Mirri a nd Carletti,
i n s itu.
s ome-
i s a lways a pplied t o a r ed o r y ellow background.
and through s ome very
The other variants have a lso partly f aded,
a lthough to a l esser extent,
a nd where t hey a re b etter preserved,
i s never t he case with the whole wall,
this
but only with a part o f i t.
I f
one c ompares t he engravings w ith what has been p reserved o f r elated d ecorations e lsewhere
i n t he Domus Aurea,
t hen i t appears that t he
drawings on which the engravings were based were g enerally r eliable. P late
2 .1 16
r eproduces
a n e ngraving of a painting o n o ne o f the
l ong walls o f r oom no.50 t hat c ontinues t he c ourtyard i n f ront o f the nymphaeum n o.45 t o the
s outh.
r eserved f or the dado here.
A s trip o f r oughly 3 .00 m .
I t
o riginally f aced with marble, e laborate o rnamental
f acade,
e xecuted i n many c olours, e xtended s torey,
i s
i s a s
high 17
i mpossible t o t ell whether t he e ngraving c laims.
was
i t was
The h ighly
which we s hould a ssume t o h ave been
c omposed r ound a c entral point a nd w ith a n
c haracterized by i ts g reat openness.
g round v isible t hrough t he openings
s uggests
a ir.
The white back-
The main l ines o f t he
c onstructions a re a ccentuated by t hin f luted p laster c olonnettes with Corinthian capitals,
which a re p artially p reserved.
c learly i ndicated i n t he engraving. a ctually p resent i n t he r oom, This no.70 18
type o f d ecoration o ccurs t hroughout t he pavilion.
which i s c onnected with r ooms n os.
that must be o lder t han the nymphaeum, 5 3
a nd 5 4
the nymphaeum.
i s not
p ortrayed as
i f
e nliven t he whole. I n r oom
4 6 a nd 6 9 which were p artially
pulled d own i n o rder to build t he nymphaeum, 5 0,
This d etail
D ifferent f igures,
i t i s a pplied t o walls
while i n r ooms n os.
4 2
( p1.2.2),
i t i s a pplied t o walls t hat a re c ontemporary with Rooms nos.119 19
a nd 1 29 n ext t o t he d omed hall,
a nd t he passages nos.118 a nd 1 31 20 a ccording t o t his
s ystem.
i n t he
n o.128,
s ame wing a re a lso d ecorated
I t s hould be n oted here t hat i n r ooms n os.
3 9
PLATE
2 .3:
Rome,
Domus
Aurea,
room
no.
3 3
( after Mirri and Carletti)
2 3,
s outh w all
1 19 and 1 29,
painting only begins
a bove a d ado 4 .80 m .
h igh,
s o t hat
we a re d ealing with an upper zone which c onsequently with l ighter a rchitecture.
I n t his
the building,
i t
s tage o f the research i nto t he a rchitecture o f
i s i mpossible t o e stablish the r elationship between
the wing c ontaining the d omed hall no.128 a nd t he nymphaeum n o.45 n ext t o the peristyle a s came
f ar a s t he date of building i s
t o the c onclusion that the d ifference
decoration o f the rooms
4 .40 m .
3 3,
2 .3 21
s ituated t o t he
h igh - which i s
t ion
r efers t o one o f t he
s outh o f t he peristyle.
I f one
t hen t he
l ong walls o f
The d ado,
r oughly
c onsiderably h igher than t he e ngraving s uggests
was o riginally f aced with marble.
Here t oo,
t he
i n the painting i s hypotactic a nd t here
a much l ower one.
s mall
i n question would n ot c ontradict t his.
The e ngraving on p late r oom no.
c oncerned.
i n t ime i s
i s a n upper s torey,
B elow t here a re t hree l ifelike f igures.
one can s ee t hat t his o rnamental though y ellow predominates
-
a rchitectural c onstruca lbeit
On t he s pot,
f acade w as p ainted i n s everal c olours -
- o n a dark r ed background.
O riginally,
t he
whole must have g iven a t otally d ifferent i mpression f rom t he black a nd white r epresentation provided by the Decorations whose main z ones
engraving.
a re d irectly r elated t o t hat o f t he
r oom d iscussed a bove,only appeared i n t he peristyle wing, r ooms
n os.
2 3
( pl.
2 .4
) ,
2 2
2 523 a nd 3 1.
2 4
H owever,
t hat i s
i n
o n t he basis o f
t he r elationship between t he upper z ones i t appears that t he
s ame
s tudio was a lso a t work t o t he e ast o f t he pentagonal c ourtyard i n r oom no.116,
a s we s hall
s ee
( p.46 a nd 4 9).
I n r oom no.42 t he two s orts of s caenae f rons c ombined
( pl.
2 .2).
j ust d escribed a re
The s omewhat h eavier polychrome on white
c entral and upper z one,
t he
i s i n the
l ighter o ligochrome o n a r ed background i s
on a s trip on top o f the unfinished d ado adjoining the upper z one. O bviously one would be thinking h ere o f a s ingle s tudio t hat had s everal
s orts of s ystems
i n i ts portfolio.
The painted o rnamental f acades
i n t he Domus Aurea w ere p robably
c reated during the s omewhat e rratic c ourse o f building. r elatedness of the paintings provides
c onsidering t he possibility t hat t he various plans were
The
i nter-
u s with a n a rgument f or s eriously c hanges
c arried out i n f airly quick s uccession,
I n P ompeii no f ourth-style o rnamental f acades
i n t he building
n ot l ong a fter 6 4 A .D. s urvive which c an
be d ated with a ny c ertainty to before t he e arthquake o f 6 2 A .D. we d o have
the e xistence o f the f ourth-style ornamental f rom before 6 2 A .D.
t he c losed s urfaces.
F rom t hese
i n the o pen p arts
a nd which d o d ate
a ppears
and many s imilar w alls
t he r evival of the s econd-style o rnamental
t o run on b ehind
i t a ppears t hat
f acade i n the main z one o f
r epresented i n a d ifferent manner,
e xistence o f the g roup o f s ystems which, s tyle'.
f acade
There we a re dealing with partly c losed-off walls
2 5
where the a rchitecture v isible
t he wall,
What
i n the a lae of t he Casa d ei Vetti a re s ystems which s uppose
underlies the
s ince Mau,
2 6
A c lear e xample of a partly c losed o rnamental
c oming i nto
we c all f acade
t o be s een i n t he s outh peristyle of t he C asa d ei D ioscuri. I t a ppears i n P ompeii i n
that
7 9 A .D.,
f ourth-style d ecorative
' fourth i s a lso
2 7
f acades w ere being a pplied
t he y ear of t he d estruction,
s ince u ncompleted
d ecorative s chemes o f t his type have been e ncountered i n two places, namely i n the Casa d i Apolline,
2 8
and i n t he house
4 2
1 ,3,25.
2 9
( after Mirri and Carletti
i
PLATE
2 .6:
Rome,
ci
Domus Aurea,
room no
3 2
( after Mirri
and Carletti).
T he
l atter P ompeian d ecoration i s s imilar t o t he group o f s caenae
f rontes on white backgrounds t ive
f acades
i n the Domus Aurea.
Otherwise
i n P ompeii a re d ifferent f rom t hose
t he d ecora-
i n t he Domus Aurea,
a nd the r ooms c ontaining this type of d ecoration i n t he main z ones o f t he walls a lso e xhibit a great variety of f orms. P aratactic d ecorative
f acades
A very s pecial p lace 4 1
i s
taken up by t he d ecorations
a nd 5 5 t o t he n orth and s outh o f t he
t he nymphaeum n o.45.
Room n o.55 has a d ado,
we c an n o l onger t ell
i f i t was ever
ving published by Mirri t ion o n the
f aced w ith marble.
i nto equal
c onstruction were a ccentuated a s
i ntercolumnia,
( pl.
2 .5).
3 0
but
From a n e ngra-
c olonnettes with Corinthian c apitals,
have u s b elieve, i s more,
c omplicated.
l ines o f t he f luted
s till partially p reserved
F rom what r emains of t he painting on t he
c losed parts w ere n ot a ll
v iewed i n per-
The main
i n t he n ext r oom no.50 by s lender
t hat t he engraving i s wrong i n c ertain r espects.
What
f ront o f
high,
a nd Carletti i t a ppears that the painted d ecora-
s pective f rom t he middle o f the wall
i n s itu.
i n
r oughly 4 .25 m .
l ong walls was based o n the p icture o f a porticus w ith upper
s torey s eparated by pillars
p laster
i n r ooms n os.
l arge e xedra n o.44
s pot one must c onclude The draperies
a bove the
l ooped i n t wo p laces a s t he e ngraving would
but s traightened out i n every s econd i ntercolumnium.
t he a rchitecture
i n the background i s
c onsiderably m ore
Unfortunately the r elated painting i n r oom n o.41,
' counterpart'
t o that i n r oom n o.55,
preservation,
h as n ot yet been c leaned.
t he
t hough i n a much better state o f
These paintings must a lso have been a pplied a t t he time o f t he c onstruction o f t he pavilion.
There a re s o many s imilarities w ith the
heavier polychrome s caenae f rontes o n a white background t hat i t s eems j ustifiable t o a scribe t hem to the s ame s tudio. What we have here i s Aurea.
a system with n o parallel within t he D omus
As f ar a s we c an t ell
f rom publications,
i t d oes not o ccur a ny-
where e lse e ither. D ecorations where the main
z one
i s d ivided i nto f ields
N ow we c ome t o the s impler d ecorations which a re c loser t o what we u sually c ome a cross As f ront,
i n provincial Roman a rt.
f or t he paintings i n r oom n o.32 s outh o f t he p eristyle t o t he 3 1 i nforms u s that t hey were s o well p reserved t hat
C arletti
t hey l ooked a s
i f they had been done
i n his t ime.
W e have t o make d o
with . vague r emains which n evertheless a llow u s t o a ssert that M irri's published engraving o riginal
( pl.
2 . 6 )
3 2
r eproduces t he main
T he r oom o riginally had a marble dado, principal
f eatures o f t he
s ituation p retty well.
s pace,
n orth s ide.
a nd s ome 0 .80 m .
The n iche
s ome
2 .00 m .
high
i n t he
h igh i n a s quare e xtension on t he
i s not painted.
The d ecoration of t he p rincipal
s pace c onsists o r c onsisted o f a black f rieze d ecorated with t endrils j ust a bove t he d ado, broad r ed s trips, background.
The
a main z one d ivided i nto black f ields
and a n upper z one with a s caenae
f ields have r ichly d ecorated i nner
s hows c entrally s ituated r epresentations Bacchic e lements;
f rames.
T he e ngraving
c onsisting o f c ompositions o f
i n the three c entral f ields t hey take the
4 5
f ramed by
f rons on a black
f orm o f more
or l ess
square
' paintings',
l ike vignettes. abra.
while
i n the t wo outer ones they a re s haped
The vertical r ed s trips a re d ecorated with p lant c andel-
On e ither s ide of t hese
s trips
f antastic architectonic c onstructions
have been drawn on a black background, f ront of the wall
which s eem t o s tand o n c onsoles
s urface a nd t o run on behind t he s trips,
break through the s urface of the
i n
w hile t hey
f ields i n i llogical f ashion.
A s imilar type of middle zone was a pplied t o t he r ear wall o f the porticus
r ound the peristyle n o.20.
One c an g et a g ood l ook a t t he
a rchitecture o n both s ides of the vertical s trips preserved,
i f n ot c ompletely c leaned,
This again
c onfirms
i n a r easonably w ell
s ection i n t he n orth-east c orner.
t he c omparative a ccuracy o f
t he
e ngraving o f t he
decoration i n r oom no.32. The d ivision of t he middle z one i nto panels was
i n u se
f rom t he beginning of the
i stic of the f ourth s tyle c onstructions, f ron .
that i s
t o s ay with e lements borrowed f rom t he s caenae
but s uppose a r evival,
s econd-style s caenae Apart
i nto e xistence e arly i n t he
i n a d ifferent
f rom t he porticus,
a nd,
f orm,
o f t he
f rons. r oom n o.30,
t o t he west of r oom n o.32,
probably a lso had t he s ame s ort of d ecoration, f ields,
What i s c haracter-
i s t he c ombination w ith a rchitectonic
S uch c ombinations might have c ome
f ourth s tyle,
s eparated by s trips
s econd s tyle.
i n t his c ase with y ellow
a s might have been e xpected i n t he c entral l ocation,
a much higher m arble d ado o f s ome
4 .60 m .
a bove
D etails c an n o l onger be made
out. With i ts l ight c onstruction a gainst a p lain background t he a rchit ecture of the upper z one o f r oom n o.32
r eminds one s trongly o f t he
d ecoration of the n eighbouring r oom no.33 and the upper z one o f the s outh wall s outhern l unettes 4 2
( pl.
same
2 .11),
i n r ooms nos.
2 .3),
of t he l unette
( pl.
2 .4 ) ,
o f the
2 5 and 3 1 a nd o f t he d ado i n r oom n o.
a ll i n the s ame wing.
s tudio that had various
( pl.
i n room n o.23
We a re p robably d ealing w ith t he
s ystems
i n i ts p ortfolio.
The d ecoration o f r ooms nos.30 and 3 2 a nd the p orticus r ound t he p eristyle n o.20 was a lso a pplied i n c onnection with t he c onstruction of the building. I t i s not d ifficult t o f ind parallels i n Pompeii a nd e lsewhere f or
f ields d ivided by s trips
c ontrary,
f requently a pplied. parallel
d ecorated with p lant c andelabra.
F or the d ecoration of t he
f ields w e have a s triking
i n . the well-known r ed and black wall of Verulamium.
H owever,
w e know of n o parallels
f or t he
paratactic o pen d ecorative D omus Aurea
( p1.2.5),
f acades,
p layed a r ole
s uch a s t hose
R emarkably e nough, c orner of the
i s
a meandering motif,
e nclosed f ields w ith a rchitectonic
i nto the planes. i n r oom no.116,
f ive-sided c ourtyard,
d ecoration h ere
P ossibly
i n r oom n o.55 o f the
i n t he c ombination of t he t raditional
d ivided i nto a s eries of equal,
e lements which protrude
3 3
c ombination o f s trips
a nd a rchitectonic e lements which a ppear t o r un on b ehind.
wall,
On t he
i n the a rt of t he provinces t his t ype of d ecoration was quite
s ituated i n t he
t here
c ompletely built u p o f painting: a b lack m iddle z one
4 6
s outh-east
i s n o marble d ado.
i n which t he
The
a r ed p linth w ith f ields w ith t heir
( Copyright Nijmegen University)
1 16,
n orth-east c orner
PLATE
2 .8:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
( Copyright
room no.
1 14,
I stituto Centrale per
e la Documentazione,
Rome).
north wall i l Catalogo
i nner f rames a re
s eparated by a rchitectonic c onstructions,
d eeper black upper z one with s caenae
f rons m otifs
( p1.2.7).
a s till 3 4
The i nner f rames o f t he m iddle z one c onsist of t hin l ines d ecora ted w ith v ery d elicate f lowers.
The c onstructions b etween t he f ields
have the s ame r ococo c haracter a s t hose
i n r oom n o.32 a nd i n t he p orti-
c us r ound t he peristyle n o.20 o nly much narrower a nd s impler. c onstructions i n the u pper z one a re a lso m ore s ober,
The
d emonstrating a n
e specially s trong r elationship w ith t he a forementioned d ecorations i n r oom n o.32 o f the p eristyle w ing
( pl.
2 .6 ).
The d ecoration i s f ine e nough t o make o ne t hink of t he t hird s tyle,
were i t not f or t he f act t hat t here a re c lear r elationships
b etween t he paintings o f t his r oom a nd t he u nmistakably f ourth-style s ystems r eferred t o a bove, d ecoration of r oom n o.33
which c an a gain be r elated t o t he r ich
( pl.
2 .3).
On t hese g rounds t he r elatively
s imple d ecorations c arried o ut on b lack a nd r ed backgrounds i n r ooms nos.
3 2 a nd 1 16 c an b e a scribed t o t he s ame s tudio which c arried o ut
much m ore s umptuous d ecorations o n r ed or y ellow backgrounds r ound t he peristyle a t t he t ime o f t he c onstruction o f t he building . I n r oom n o.116 w e have a s ystem which, i s c oncerned,
a s
f ar a s t he main d esign
a ppears w ith many v ariations i n the provinces,
f ar a s w e k now,
t hough a s
t here t he d ecorations o f t he s trips t hat s eparate t he
f ields a re n ever purely a rchitectonic. N either d o w e meet t here t he r efinement we n oticed i n t he D omus Aurea. I t i s s triking t hat t he d ecoration o f r oom n o.116 i s s o d ifferent f rom that i n the o ther r ooms r ound t he f ive-sided c ourtyard. Most o f t hese have h igh marble p linths a nd a bove,
on t he s mall r emaining s trip,
paintings i n which r ed a nd b lue predominate, s caenae f rontes,
t hat i s,
c ombined w ith plaster d ecoration i n t he b igger r ooms. z one,
a bove a l andscape
f rieze,
I n t he u pper
3
t he p entagonal c ourtyard has a r ich
d ecoration based o n a d ivision i nto a ediculae, of plasterwork,
e ither s maller
or c ombinations o f f ields a nd n arrow p erspectives
a ccentuated by m eans
i n which the c olours r ed a nd b lue p redominate,
i n t he s tyle of t he f amous v olta d orata i n r oom n o.80, t his c ourtyard.
3 8
t otally
o n t he a xis o f
T his s uggests a s tudio t hat d id not work e lsewhere
i n t he D omus Aurea.
The
' counterpart'
other c orner of t he c ourtyard ,
o f r oom n o.116,
n o.64,
a t t he
r emained u ndecorated.
N owhere i n t he Domus Aurea a re t he paintings a s w ell preserved a s i n r oom no.114, o ctagonal hall
( pl.
s ituated f urther b ack to t he n orth-east o f t he 2 .8).
H ere 1 .70 m . was r eserved f or a m arble-
3 7
c overed or painted d ado. The o riginal plan w as not c arried out, ever.
Only i n a l ater phase,
w ere t he l ower w alls p lastered , The d ecoration,
h ow-
probably a fter t he i mperial o ccupation, t hough t he p laster r emained white.
p olychrome o n a white background,
t wo z ones o n the e ast a nd west walls, s outh walls that e nd i n l unettes. c onsists o f t hree white f ields,
c onsists o f
a nd o f t hree o n t he n orth a nd
T he main z one o n a ll f our walls
d ivided by a ediculae b earing h eavy
b eams. T he a ediculae s urround v istas o n white, t he f ields a ll have l andscape paintings 38 i n t heir c entres, a nd t he outermost f ields have i nner f rames o n t hree s ides.
I t i s a s i f c urtains have b een d rawn i n
f ront o f t hree parts o f a n o pen c onstruction.
I t i s i n particular the
s ide-fields w ith t he i nner f rames r eminding one o f e mbroidered o r
4 9
woven o rnamental r ibbons that u ive this
i mpression.
More c learly than i n the Domus Aurea o ne s ees t he d erivation o f t his
s ort of wall
places
f rom t he l argely open s caenae
i n Pompeii,
s uch a s
f rons
i n a number of
t he south peristyle of t he Casa d ei
a nd t he a lae on the Casa d ei V etti both of which w ere earlier ( p. 4 2). The upper zone of the r oom i n question, s imple s caenae
f rons o n a white b ackground;
t han t he a ediculae b eneath,
no.114,
i s quite
l ike
t he architecture i s
but i s not d issimilar.
The
f illed by a c omposition of a rchitectonic e lements i n t he
D ioscuri
r eferred t o
a
l ighter
l unettes
a re
a s tyle which f its
r est of t he d ecoration. What i s
r emarkable h ere a nd e lsewhere i n t he Domus Aurea i s t he
unity o f s tyle within t he d ecoration of o ne a nd t he s ame r oom, i nsofar a s t he d ecoration was
c arried out t here
a t one t ime.
a t l east
I n t he
D omus Aurea we d o not encounter c ompositions c onsisting of e lements o f d ifferent d esigns,
s uch a s we s ee
i n P ompeii,
tablinum of t he Casa d i Apolline, a c ertain c ohesion. D ecorations
f or i nstance,
where o nly t he m iddle
3 9
of t he type t hat i s
r epresented i n room no.114 a re
met i n varied f orm i n the whole s eries of passages
a nd r ooms
against t he s lope on the n orth s ide of t he pavilion, 7 5,
7 7,
7 9,
4 0
i n t he
s ection e xhibits
8 4-86,
cryptoporticus which
9 2,
4 1
1 41.
l ight.
s ituated 6 9,
s ervice passages,
I t i s r emarkable t hat i n a ll t hese r ooms
plaster i s present i t has been a pplied l ater,
a s
a djoining r ooms.
These
f aced i n marble u p t o t he t op of t he d oor o penings, motifs t he
was painted, a nd r ooms
f orm t he s paces w ere
but t he a rea a bove,
l ike t he t riangular v aulting 42
a nd i n a s tyle v ery c lose t o what o ne s ees
s eries o f passages
Where
i n r oom no.114.
f ound t he o ctagonal r oom n o.128 t riangular s paces throughways between t he various l ess v isible,
l it
a nd r ooms which
the dados were not c ompleted a t t he s ame t ime a s t he paintings.
which was
7 2,
We a re c oncerned h ere with p oorly
f unctioned a s
r eceived l ittle a ir or
n os.46,
i n r oom n o.114
o n t he n orth s ide,
with
a nd i n
s o t hat i t i s c ertain
that t he same d ecorators were a t work h ere. I t a ppears t hat t he group of paintings i n c lose
r elation with the
because of the
i n question was
c onstruction o f t he building,
a pplied
e specially
f act t hat t he d ecoration i n r ooms nos.46 a nd 6 9 was
partially hacked off to make t he c onstruction o f nymphaeum no.45 possible. H ighly s implified architecture on a white background i s t he order i n r oom n o.94,
s ituated to t he north-west o f t he octagonal hall
i n a d ark a nd l ess a ttractive part o f the pavilion
2 .9).
r oughly 2 .60 m .
c ompleted,
t he d ecoration has been built up i nto t hree z ones.
s caenae by
4 3
Above
r eserved f or t he d ado which was never S hallow
f rontes a nd other s imple a rchitectonic e lements a re d elineated
s tripes.
Garlands
The r oom i s n orth passage 44 high
high,
( pl.
t he s trip,
a nd v ignettes
o f a nimals e nliven the white
s urrounded o n t hree
s ides by passages,
and t he west passage - both w ith a s pace
f or a d ado t hat was n ever
painting which i s nevertheless
no.93.
s urfaces. I n t he
r oughly 2 .60 m .
f illed i n - y ou f ind t he s ame s ort o f s omewhat c loser to t he d ecoration o f t he
5 0
PLATE
2 .9:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
room no.
( Copyright Fototeca Unione,
94,
northern part
Rome).
PLATE
2 .10:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
northern part
room no.
7 1
( Sala degli uccelli),
( Copyright Nijmegen University).
PLATE 2 .11:
Unione,
Rome ).
( Sala degli uccelli),
PLATE
2 . 12:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
room no.
46,
( Copyright Nij megen University ).
east wall
Domus Aurea,
r oom no.
7 2,
( Copyright Nijmegen University).
Rome,
north wall
PLATE
2 . 14:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
room no.
7 5,
( Copyright Nijmegen University).
east wall
m ore n ortherly s ituated passages This
i s t rue of both the walls
n o.95,
a nd r ooms d ealt w ith previously.
a nd t he vaults.
I n the east passage t he walls r emained u nplastered, t o the s outh of r oom n o.94.
a s i n r oom
The two groups of d ecorations with a rchitecture on a white background,
t he
r icher a nd t he s impler,
t heir e xecution s o many points t he same s tudio , i t was
a pplied i n adjoining r ooms have
i n r espect of which we have
a lready e stablished t hat
a t work during t he c onstruction of t he building.
a lso a t work i n t he peristyle wing, The
t hat i s
t hink i n
This
s tudio was
t o s ay i n passage no.62.
s imple a rchitecture on a white background s hows c ertain s imi-
l arities w ith the s umptuous s caenae f rontes t here are
i n
i n c ommon that t hey c an be a scribed t o
o n white.
N evertheless,
s o many d ifferences between the two groups t hat one ought t o t erms of two d ifferent s tudios.
S ystems
c onsisting of enclosed f ields a lternating with v istas
which would be r anked among the
s impler o nes
a mongst t he r ichest i n the provinces. s impler purpose o f t he buildings, f rons
s eems to have
A .D.,
a s witnessed by t he
i n t he D omus Aurea,
but a lso t o t he
f act that t he
f allen i nto d isuse by t he end of t he
not even i n t he more
a re
This does not only r elate to the
f act t hat t his
i mportant buildings
s caenae
f irst c entury
s ystem does not occur i n O stia, and
l arger h ouses,
i n t he
s econd c entury A .D. A f orm of d ecoration l ike i s
that i n r oom n o.94,
w here t he a rchitecture
s implified t o a n a lmost l inear pattern i s c losely r elated t o t he type
of painting that begins t o be t he g eneral rule
i n t he t hird c entury both
i n t he c entre of t he empire a nd i n t he provinces. Painted dados I n t he
s o-called S ala d egli u ccelli,
no.71,
t he paintings
l ower
d own t he walls were well preserved a nd easily photographed f or a v ery l ong t ime
( p1.2.10-11).
4 5
That i s why t hey a re t he most r eproduced a nd
t he best known i n t he Domus Aurea. r oom d erives
The
c onstruction on a white background. ever,
has
c harming modern name of t his
f rom the vignettes with birds which enliven t he
l ight
The uppermost part o f t he wall,
r eceived l ittle a ttention t ill now.
how-
Nevertheless i t c annot be
l eft out o f c onsideration i f you want to u nderstand what i s g oing on here.
Above the d ecoration on white we have
j ust briefly d escribed,
there
a re t races of architectural painting,
probably originally e xecuted
i n r ed a nd blue, work,
i n which t he main
t he s ort of d ecoration,
m eet i n more
v ery many r ooms t hough i n s ome
one a bove t he other.
i n t he Domus Aurea have,
u ncompleted dados
This
( p. 49 )
t hat we
Two d ifferent s ystems
c an be e xplained a s
f ollows:
a s we have a lready e stablished,
a nd i n many places even t he b are b rick wall i s v isible
c ases
i t was provided with plaster i n a l ater phase.
t he Sala d egli u ccelli,
no.71,
a nd i n the adjoining r ooms nos.46,
a r elatively s imple d ecoration was
2 .10-14).
a re emphasized by plaster r elief-
r ooms r ound t he pentagonal c ourtyard.
have been a pplied,
7 5
l ines
a s we mentioned earlier
a pplied to t his p lasterwork
It was only i n t he Sala d egli u ccelli t hat t his
3 .10 m .
a nd t hat of the main z one.
t he paintings
t he t hree other r ooms
two zones are much c loser to each other.
5 7
The
( pls.
l ed t o a
c onsiderable d ifference between the painting of t he I n
I n
7 2 a nd
h igh d ado
o ldest painting t here
of t he
PLATE
2 . 15:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
passage
no.
92,
( Copyright Nij megen University).
arch
b elongs
t o the group o f
c omparatively s imple decorations
i n t he passage-
ways a nd t he r ooms on t he n orth s ide we d ealt with e arlier T hat we are d ealing with two phases of painting i n question a lso a ppears i n s tyle
f rom the f act t hat,
i n t he S ala d egli u ccelli, while
i n t he
f our rooms
a part f rom t he difference
i n a t l east t hree rooms t he s trip
i ntended o riginally f or t he d ado now l ooks a s w ith d ado and main z one,
( p.49-50 ).
i f i t were a whole wall
i n t he S ala d egli u ccelli w e e ven have
a n upper z one. I n t he S ala d egli u ccelli t he u nfolded on the middle t his
l ong walls:
s ystem c ould o nly be c ompletely
a bove a d ado without d ecoration t here
z one consisting o f t hree f ields
t here
i s a n upper
s eparated by vistas,
z one d ivided i nto t hree by two a ediculae,
o n a white background.
S lender
c andelabra,
i s a
and a bove a ll
garlands a nd t he vignettes
w ith birds t ogether with t he a rchitectonic c onstructions g reatly c ont ribute t o the s implified
i mpression o f t he whole.
The
s ystem i n i tself i s a
f orm o f what we s aw i n r oom n o.114.
s impler a nd i s c haracterized by i ts
f latness.
t he d ecoration t here a re c lear s imilarities
9 2,46 u nder the a rch i n the
i n t he
s ame passage
e xecution i s
f ar
f or the c omponents o f
t o e lements i n a number o f
r ooms of t he group r elated t o the d ecoration i n t he upper r eveals o f t he windows
T he As
i n r oom no.114,
particularly
s outh wall o f p assage n o.
( pl.
2 .15),
4 7
u nder t he
l atei
o f a wide throughway i n t he n orth wall o f r oom n o.77 and i n t he p ainti ngs o f t he f irst phase o f r oom n o.75, part o f t he main z one
( pl.
I n t he triangular s pace n o.72 u ndecorated, a ediculae,
a ll on white,
f rame with brown s tripes z ones
e ast wall
i n t he l ower
t he p linth i s o chre y ellow a nd
and t he main z one c onsists of f ields d ivided o ff by a s implified f orm o f t he s ystem t hat was
a pplied t o the w all a bove s econd p hase
o n the
2 .14).
i n t he
f irst phase
( pl.
2 .13).
A y ellow
a long t he upper edge o f the painting of t he
i s i dentical t o t he f rame b etween t he middle a nd u pper
i n the S ala d egli u ccelli, I n r oom no.75
t he
brown plinth with a bove f rame ( pl. 2 .14).
no.71.
s econd phase painting c onsists o f a r eddishi t ochre y ellow panels p rovided w ith a n i nner
I n r oom n o. 4 6 t he painting o f t he s econd phase w hich has o nly been p reserved o n the e ast wall, i s a lso e xecuted i n brown o n a n o chre backg round
( pl.
s tripes,
2 .12).
Two garlands hang w ithin a panel d elineated b y
t o the r ight o f which we s ee a n a edicula which has b een l ightly
s ketched i n.
A b rown plinth may well be c oncealed u nder a pile o f e arth
yet t o b e c leared a way. I t i s r emarkable that t he when t he dado was
f illed i n.
f irst-phase painting b elow was a dded t o
I t i s possible t hat a l ower s trip was
d amaged when the n ew l ayer o f plaster was a pplied and t hat i t had t o be partially r enewed. Room no.46
i s o ne o f t he r ooms which was partially d emolished i n
o rder t o make r oom f or the nymphaeum,
a s mentioned a bove.
I t
i s o nly
i n t he c ase of t his r oom that we c an d emonstrate w ith c ertainty t hat t he s econd phase of the d ecoration i s o ccupation, a scribed.
f rom the t ime o f the
i mperial
t o which period the building o f the nymphaeum s hould b e
Mention has
a lready been made of the
5 9
c olour r elationship
PLATE
2 .16:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
room 4 2,
east wall
( Copyright Nijmegen University).
PLATE
2 . 17:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
room
42,
( Copyright Fototeca Unione,
vault Rome).
PLATE
2 .18:
Rome,
Domus Aurea,
r oom 4 8,
north wall
( Copyright Nijmegen University).
PLATE 2.19:
(Copyright Nijmegen University).
Rome, Domus Aurea, room 48, west wall
PLATE
2 .20: ( after Mirri and Carletti).
vault of southern part
I n;: .. . EA "-a
=zer Ei tammummem a t
• M I . 1 . 1
• / c
=
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« i
A A
Y-«a i m x -A"?1
•
Mirri a nd Carletti).
' 4 4
• • •
• •
: t•
. 0'
; 4, L
_ , . .
'
J . ,
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J .
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t O C*
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) -
0 2 2( X i
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p y s
' Y '
T
4
. 4 .
•
• T
1 ! 1 s
Y z
,
f : _ 2214 i t
) j . :
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-
Y . . 2 e
" "
•
Y
0
tY 7 2 " ; 4 ' 92 . 4Y . . ,z z .••,} .› .; , f e
. , . • , 4 -- He—S ;25 .4-> K _
! i ' f , z r " t,- r • T
« nrY
4 . -44 -1" 1 " -> >
1
W
c i r
i l l i ll4 9 •41 . Z f r r
/ 6 >
;\
' 4 ?
e f
y a r 3
" e > 1 . •
f4 1 .
•
• 4 -
r ° 1
' Pr ,73 1 s cr . r-
, . . 4
F . } * ,
t v !
4 4
i
Plate 2 .21:
t
me r am t
between t he d ados i n r ooms n os . 46 a nd 7 5.
I n t he f our r ooms i n q uestion
t here i s a lso t he s imilarity i n t he c areless way i n which t he u ppermost l ayer of plaster h as b een a pplied t o t he d ados. once t he d ecision w as t aken t o f ill t he d ados
I t s eems likely that, n ,
a beginning was made
i n t his c orner of t he pavilion. A s with s o many p lans t his o ne t oo was o nly partially c arried o ut. The p aintings o f t he s econd phase i n t he f our r ooms i n question a re m ost p robably c ontemporary. This would place t he f amous S ala d egli u ccelli i n the i mperial phase o f o ccupation. The p aintings o f t he phase o f n on-imperial o ccupation N ot f ar f rom t he S ala d egli u ccelli, n orth o f t he n ymphaeum.
n o.71,
i s r oom n o.42,
t o t he
H ere a n u pper s torey o f o ne r oom was built i n
a bove r oughly two t hirds of t he s pace on t he n orth s ide.
Completely n ew
d ecoration i n brown a nd o chre was a pplied t o t he walls a nd t he v aulting o f t he n ew r oom
( pls.
2 .16-17):
by r estrained p rospects,
4 8
o n t he w alls f ields w ere d ivided
o n t he v aulting f loral f ringes,
g arlands were a rranged i n g eometric patterns. more t han on t he w alls,
t endrils a nd
I t i s o n t he v aulting
which i ncidentally a re l ess w ell preserved,
t hat w e f ind a gain t he v arious e lements f amiliar t o u s f rom t he S ala d egli u ccelli. T he l ikeness i s s triking p articularly i n t he c ase o f a l ittle l eaf c andelabrum f lanked by two c urling c reepers w hich a ppears i n t he upper z one o f t he S ala d egli u ccelli a nd i n t he upper c hamber of r oom n o.42 o n the vaulting. w ith f irst-phase paintings. w indows i n passage n o.92,
E lsewhere t here a re'also s imilarities
The a rch
( pl.
2 .15 )
j ust r eferred t o,
a nd t he r eveals o f t he
a nd t he u nderside o f t he
l atei i n r oom n o.77 s trongly r ecall t he v ault o f t he o chre c hamber i n question i n t erms o f i ts d esign a nd motifs. The v ery s ketchily e xecuted p rospects o n t he w alls s trongly r emind o ne o f t he o nly prospect t o be preserved i n r oom n o.46
( pl.
2 .12).
The c onstruction o f r oom n o.42 t ies i n w ith t hat of t he n eighbouri ng nymphaeum.
The v ery e laborate paintings w hich .were a pplied a t t he
t ime ' o f c onstruction were r eported e arlier a A b elonging t o t he p eriod o f i mperial occupation
( p. 4 2).
t rue o f t he u pper c hamber.
I t i s u nlikely,
however,
t hat t his i s
I t i s e asier t o i magine s uch a rchitectural
r earrangement a s t aking p lace i n the p eriod i n which s eparate phases o f o ccupation c ame i nto e xistence i n various p arts o f t he pavilion. Room n o.48 which i s a lso o ne o f t he r ooms n ear t he n ymphaeum, d ecorations t hat must b e f ully a scribed t o t he 2 .
1 8-21).
s econd phase
h as
( pls.
The d ecoration w as partially applied t o t he b ack of a wall
which r elates t o t he c onstruction o f t he -barrel vault i n e xedra , n o.44, a nd partially t o the walls i n t he r oom i tself which w ere a dded l ater. While o ne c an s ee t he i ng i n r oom n o.42,
f irst-phase d ecoration r ound t he n ew paint-
t here i s n o t race o f i t i n r oom n o.48.
E ither t he
o ld mortar a nd plaster were r emoved f or t he paintin4 o r t he walls r emained bare a s i n t he n orthern c ounterpart o f t his r oom,
no.40.
The a lteration o f the r ectangular s pace r esulted in t wo l ower r ooms,
a s taircase,
two u pper r ooms a nd a l anding.
The v aults o f t he
two u pper r ooms r eceived d ecoration on white b ackgrounds a s w e know f rom t he e ngravings i n t he work by M irri a nd C arletti, t here a re n ow o nly s canty r emnants o f i t
( Pls.
e ven though
2 .20-21 ).
4 9
J udging
by t hese drawings t hese vaults w ere d ecorated i n a pattern r elated t o
6 6
t hat of the vault o f the o chre upper c hamber i n r oom no.42 There i s
a lso a c onsiderable r esemblance i n t he d etails.
cases the g eometrical d ivision i s enlivened i n the candelabra and g arlands, by s omewhat heavier
vignettes a gain f orm t he u ccelli.
The
a re e mphasized
s lender plant d ecoration and t he a nimal
l ink with the paintings below i n t he S ala d egli
The walls of the various r ooms i nto which hall no.48 was a lso r eceived d ecoration on white backgrounds - j udging by the r emnants - with a n u ndecorated o r marbled d ado, i nto
f ields
s eparated by s imple prospects,
l ight a rchitectonic c onstructions 1 8-19).
t hree
s ame way by plant
a nd a number of c ompartments
f raming.
( pl. 2 .17).
I n a ll
d ivided f aint
a middle z one d ivided
a n upper zone made up of
j oined by a reas d ivided by l ines
( pls.
2 .
t here
i s a r elationship with the o chre r oom i n hall no.42 and with the
We c an a scertain that,
Sala d egli u ccelli,
a s t o t he main f eatures,
n o.71 but a c omparison i n t erms o f d etails
i s o nly
possible t o a l imited e xtent. I t l ooks i mperial
a s
i f t he r ooms nos.42
c ore of o ccupation,
and 4 8 b elonged to t he s ame n on-
possibly t ogether w ith other adjoining
r ooms. I n the other c ores
o f the n on-imperial o ccupation v ery l ittle
l eft with r egard t o paintings.
What i s
i s
l eft i ndicates d ecorations
c onsisting of s imple a rchitectonic e lements o n white backgrounds r esembling t hose we saw i n the r ooms
c lose
t o t he nymphaeum.
The d ifference between the s implest paintings phase o ccupation a nd t hose of the non-imperial phase f act that t he l atter group of d ecorations The
s ystems a s
a re
identical and t here i s
painting. t hat,
s uch,
however,
o f t he
have the same c haracter,
various motifs
a r elationship with r egard t o t he manner of
i mperial phase,
o f l ess wealthy c lients.
i n t he
i s of a n even s impler d esign.
P erhaps one even ought to t hink of one a nd the
after the
i mperial
r esides
had t o make
This l eads to t he
d o w ith the
same s tudio l imited budget
c onclusion t hat only a s hort
t ime c an have e lapsed between the periods of i mperial a nd non-imperial o ccupation.
The paintings even s eem t o merge with o ne a nother.
Titus had s ettled i n the Domus Aurea, l ived i n t he pavilion
E ven i f
i t i s not v ery l ikely t hat he
t hat i s preserved.
The period b etween the
f irst
a nd t he s econd phases of occupation c annot possibly have been more than t en years.
N either i s
unoccupied f or t en years. many u nfaced dados.
i t very l ikely t hat t he building was l eft I n this c ontext o ne s hould bear i n mind t he
I f Titus had l ived h ere,
f aced t hem with marble. c onclusion that i t was
There s eems
t hey c ertainly would have
t o be ample
j ustification f or the
a s e arly a s Vespasian - a nd this would have
f itted i n w ell w ith h is policy - that one s tarted u sing t he pavilion i n question f or a d ifferent purpose. Conclusions With r espect t o
t he paintings
i n t he
D omus Aurea we c an draw t he
f ollowing c onclusions. 1 .
The most important f ourth-style a rchitectural know f rom t he C ampanian c ities Aurea i n one
f orm or a nother,
out v ela t hrough which one
s ystems that we
are r epresented i n t he D omus with t he e xception of t he c arved
s ees prospects,
6 7
l ike the ones
a pplied i n the triclinium of t he Casa d ell'
E febo i n Pompeii 5 °
and i n t he upper peristyle of t he v illa of S an Marco a t C astellamare 2 .
The paintings of t he one
3 .
d i S tabia.
1
f irst phase
c an be a scribed t o t hree s tudios;
s tudio c ould a pply more than one t ype of d ecoration.
W ithin one group of paintings of t he t imes
a number of variants,
f irst phase t here a re s ome-
r anging f rom m ore s umptuous d esigns
to rather s imple o nes. 4 .
I n the more
f irst phase
t he d etermining
s impler v ariant,
r elates
Judging f rom t he are
6 .
or
of a more s umptuous o r a
t o t he importance of t he r oom,
l argely d etermined i n this 5 .
f actor a s t o t he c hoice o f a
s umptuous o r a s impler s ystem, c ase by
s canty r emains,
which i s
i ts position.
t he paintings of t he
s econd phase
r ather h omogeneous.
There a re
c onnections between the
s impler paintings of t he f irst
phase a nd t hose of the s econd phase. 7 .
There
a re n o r easons
f or positing a g reat d ivergence i n the d ates
of the paintings of t he various w ings, the 8 .
n either i n t he
f irst n or i n
s econd phase.
When one c omes
a cross paintings
have parallels
i n the Domus Aurea,
of the
f irst phase
o r 6 9 A .D.,
r ange
i n
I taly o r i n t he provinces t hat o ne
f rom 6 4 A .D.,
c an a ssume t hat t he d ates or s omewhat l ater,
t o 6 8
whilst t he beginning of the s econd phase probably was
not l ong a fter 6 9 A .D. 9 .
The
f act t hat
i n the D omus Aurea both t he s caenae
f rons
a nd t he
systems d erived f rom i t were a pplied l eads one t o c onclude t he way o f d ecorating,
which we
c all
a pplied f or a r ather l ong t ime when,
f ourth s tyle,
t hat
had been
after 6 4 A .D.,
work o n t he
wall-paintings began i n
c lose c onnection w ith t he c onstruction
which,
i s
f or that matter,
a lso apparent
vaulting o f the Domus t ransitoria 52 much l ater t han 5 4 A .D.
There
when e xactly t he f ourth
s tyle c ame
f rom t he s tyle o f t he
t he d ate o f which c an n ot b e
i s not e nough e vidence t o d etermine i nto e xistence
e ven t he Domus Aurea c an h elp u s h ere.
i n Rome.
Not
5 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS P rofessor A .
L a R egina,
Spprintendente o f t he S oprintendenza
Archeologica d i Roma gave u s permission t o c arry out t his r esearch a nd to publish the r esults. Dott.ssa I .
Dott.ssa I .
Dondero,
Jacopi provided valuable
D ott.ssa I .
Fabbrini
a nd
i nformation a nd k indly made t he
n ecessary a rrangements. P art of t his
r esearch has b een funded by a g rant f rom t he
N etherlands O rganisation f or t he Advancement of Pure R esearch D rs. D rs.
L .J.F.
J .H.M.P.
M es,
D rs.
E .M .
Moormann,
D rs.
F .G.J.M.
( Z.W.0.).
Müller a nd
S winkels e ach gave u p s everal d ays o f t heir valuable t ime
6 8
to a ssist i n the w ork i n t he u nderground c hambers. Drs.
S .Th.C.
Kolsteren provided t he s tudy of t he paintings with
a f irm basis by m eans of his r esearch i nto the building h istory. P eter Bersch,
R ob Gras a nd H erbert van d e S luis w ere r esponsible
f or a number of photographs. The t ext was t ranslated i nto E nglish by E . D r.
J .M.
K ellerman M .A.,
a nd
Blom.
We would l ike to t hank a ll t hose who h elped u s
d uring t he
r esearch a nd a ll t hose who have c ontributed to t he a rticle i tself. h ope that t he b enefits of t he various
f orms
We
o f c ooperation we have
e njoyed will become even more a pparent when the are published i n b ook f orm.
r esults o f t his
r esearch
NOTES 1 .
This paper has t he c haracter of a preliminary r eport.
Not all the
mural paintings which a re mentioned c an be r eproduced a s photographs.
D esigns o n
a r ed o r black background a re e specially hard
t o d istinguish on a black and white photograph a nd t herefore we have
l eft t hem out.
available 2 .
The e xcavations were c arried o ut by t he S oprintendenza Archeologica d i Roma u nder the
3 . 4 .
I t i s t o be hoped t hat d rawings will become
i n t he n ear f uture.
l eadership of Dott.
S econd edition of t he E nglish t ext: I n t wo publications by P once,
s sa L .
Fabbrini.
Cameron 1 775.
1 786 a nd 1 805,
been r eproduced i n mirror image.
O nly t he
t he
e ngravings have
f irst publication will
be quoted i n t his paper. 5 .
For a c omplete survey of t he o lder e xcavations
s ee Weege 1 913,
1 37-140. 6 .
The
f ollowing s elect r eferences may be u seful t o t he r eader who
wishes to gain a g eneral i nsight i n t he topic: Sanguinetti 1 957; 3 12-315, 3 39;
Nash
1 961,
M acDonald 1 965, 1 968,
407-421,
1 970,
2 5-46,
bibliography o n
Coarelli 7 .
and p assim; Coarelli
4 0-42,
f igs.
and passim ;
3 39;
1 975,
1 26-127,
1 980,
1 63-185;
Coarelli
1 98-204,
Zander 1 965;
1 969,
1 974,
5 -41;
Lugli
1 98-203, 1 979,
1 968;
f igs. 1 969,
1 970,
L avagne
Staccioli
D acos
3 39-348,
1 970;
2 14-216, Lugli
bibliography
b ibliography on 3 49;
a nd passim ;
B ogthius
bibliography on
a nd Ward P erkins
1 970,
Crema 1 959,
1 960 ;
407-421,
Nash 1 968,
D acos
Bogthius
G rant
Van E ssen 1 954;
Zander 1 958;
Bianchi Bandinelli
3 33-348.
b ibliography on 6 08;
on 3 49; 1 975,
3 15;
2 22-225;
b ibliography on 4 5-47;
bibliography o n 4 3-45; 2 48-251,
1 958,
bibliography o n
1 960 4 9 4-128; Lugli
Borda
M ielsch
1 42-148;
1 96-202.
The numbering o n the plan
f ollows t he n ew s ystem which was
r ecently e stablished by L aura Fabbrini.
F or t he
s ake of c larity
we only i ndicated t he numbers of the r ooms which a re mentioned
6 9
i n t his 8 .
a rticle.
Z ander 1 958; f ig.
Z ander 1 965;
Coarelli
1 974,
2 02;
Coarelli
1 975,
2 02,
o n 2 00.
9 .
MacDonald 1 965,
3 4-35.
1 0.
Dacos 1 969,
1 1.
Van E ssen 1 954.
1 2.
W eege
1 913,
1 3.
M irri
a nd C arletti
3 -54.
2 29-239.
Dacos 1 969,
1 776,
3 4-36,
3 0-33,
p1.6;
P once
1 786,
7 ,
p1.5;
f ig.41.
1 4.
B ianchi Bandinelli
1 960.
1 5.
Dacos
1 6.
Mirri a nd Carletti
1 7.
T he e xact height of t he d ados i s often i mpossible t o m easure,
1 968.
s ince t he
1 776,
5 9-65,
p 1.27;
P once
1 786,
4 1,
p 1.25.
f loors have been o nly partially e xposed or have
d isappeared a ltogether. 1 8.
Grant
1 9.
B astet 1 964, 2 17,
1 970,
f igs.
Andreae 20. 2 1.
c olour pl. 1 54,
7 -8;
1 973,
P icard 1 970,
f ig.
6 ,
7 ,
5 8,
4 10;
Lugli
1 0 ;
3 ;
f igs.
1 776,
Nash
1 970,
400,
2 3.
M irri
a nd Carletti 1 776,
2 4.
Dacos
1 969,
2 5.
P eters . 1977,
2 6.
Mau 1 882.
2 7.
R ichardson
3 9,
1 776,
f ig.
9 7-98,
1 955,
f ig.
prospettive", C aste1lamare
1 34;
D acos 1 968,
c olour pls.
7 -9;
p l.
3 4-36,
4 1;
P once
1 786,
N ash 1 968,
P once
p 1.39;
3 -4,
1 786,
9 ,
3 41,
P once
6 5,
1 786,
1 1,
1 5,
f ig.
p1.36.
6 5,
pls.
b ibliography i n n ote
1 1-13;
S chefold 1 962, d ecorations
1 05,
S chefold 1 957,
p1.39.
s tile';
These a nd
some e xtent i n t his
P eters
i n
f orthcoming i n Atti d al
2 4.
1 20-121
c olour p1.13,1.
d iscussed t o
" La r egione sotterrata
' La d el
c omposizione C onvegno
V esuvio: studi e
N apoli- Ercolano- Pompei- T orre Annunziatad i
1 43-144;
3 10.
8 8,
f igs.
d i quarto
I nternaziona1e
1 32,
4 10 ;
a rticle a re being d ealt w ith by W .J.Th. d elle pareti
pl.
5 6.
5 1-61,
f ourth-style
1 969,
p ls.
3 41,
f ig.
a nd Carletti
2 09,
4 7.
3 6-42.
1 961,
M irri
( bibliography );
1 967,
3 45-348.
c olour p l.
2 2.
other
K raus
B ianchi Bandinelli
4 84,
Mirri a nd Carletti pls.
on 1 83.
Stabia,
1 1-15 novembre 1 979.
7 0
2 8.
S chefold 1 957,
1 03
2 9.
S chefold 1 957,
1 3
3 0.
M irri a nd C arletti 1 776,
6 5-66,
3 1.
M irri a nd C arletti
2 9.
3 2.
M irri a nd C arletti 1 776, 1 961, f ig.
3 41, 4 09;
f ig.
( bibliography ). ( bibliography );
1 776,
4 09;
L ugli
1 970,
L iversidge
3 4.
B astet 1 964,
3 5.
D acos
3 6.
M irri a nd C arletti 1 776, B ianchi B andinelli 1 969, f igs.
3 7.
3 8. 3 9.
1 968,
7 9,
1 54,
f ig.
2 17-218,
2 03,
f ig. 5 .
P once 1 786,
P once 1 786,
2 15,
f igs.
5 -6;
p ls.90-91.
7 3,
5 ,
p 1.44.
p 1.4;
N ash
Nash 1 968,
3 41,
3 11.
l b.
4 .
f ig.
G rant 1 970,
c olour p l. f ig.
1 1. 7 5-76, p 1.42; P once 1 786, 6 7, p 1.41; 4 05, c olour f ig. 1 74; D acos 1 969, 2 0-28,
c olour pl.
S chefold 1 957,
N ash 1 961,
o n 1 82;
o n 1 99;
1 02
3 43,
f ig .10,
f ig.12;
f ig.12;
L ugli
P icard 1 970,
Coarelli
1 975,
f ound i n t he
f ig.
4 12;
p l.
f ig.
4 6;
Coarelli
o n 1 99.
3 96,
F urther d iscussion o f t his
f orthcoming a rticle m entioned
B astet 1 965,
N ash 1 968,
1 970,
5 8,
2 03,
o n 1 65.
( bibliography ).
observation w ill b e i n n ote 2 7. 4 0.
f ig .
p 1.5;
1 968,
1 26,
1 1-14.
G rant 1 970, 1 974,
1 977,
4 00,
3 3.
p 1.45;
2 9-30,
Dacos
S chefold 1 962,
3 43,
3 98,
1 54,
f ig .412;
f igs.
f ig.5;
L ugli
L ugli 1 969,
3 04-305;
D acos
1 968,
f ig.10,
1 969,
3 3,
f ig. 3 8. 4 1.
N ash 1 961,
3 45,
f ig.415;
B andinelli 1 969, 1 968,
4 05,
f ig.9;
N ash 1 968,
3 45,
f ig.415;
B ianchi
f ig.173.
4 2.
L ugli
L ugli 1 969,
4 3.
This r oom had n ot y et been c ompletely e xcavated w hen t his photograph w as made. Nash 1 968,
4 4. 4 5.
L ugli 1 968,
3 44,
Nash
f ig.413;
f ig . il;
f ig.9;
1 961,
3 44,
L ugli 1 969,
Lugli
1 969,
L ugli 1 970,
f ig.413;
4 00,
L ugli
f ig.309.
1 968,
f ig.4;
f ig.4.
f ig.11.
This r oom h ad n ot y et b een c ompletely e xcavated when t he p hotog raph r eproduced o n p late
2 ,XI was m ade.
H anfmann 1 964,
V III,
1 965,
1 54,
N ash 1 968,
c olour pl.
f ig .6; 3 44,
L ugli
f ig.414;
1 968, L ugli
f ig.4 1 969,
1 961,
3 44,
f ig.5
B ianchi Bandinelli 1 969,
4 05,
f ig.173.
4 7.
B ianchi Bandinelli
404,
c olour f ig.
7 1
f ig.
4 14;
B astet
( printed u pside d own );
4 6.
1 969,
N ash
a nd t he t ext f acing i t;
( printed u pside d own ).
1 39.
4 8. 49.
5 0.
Dacos
1 968,
2 23,
M irri
a nd Carletti
p1.35;
9 1,
Maiuri
1 936,
f ig.16. 1 776,
5 8,
p1.37;
5 8,
p 1.55;
P once
1 786,
5 9,
p1.54. 1 8-19,
f ig.14.
S ee t he
mentioned i n n ote
2 7.
5 1.
E lia 1 957,
G rafico A .
5 2.
B astet
1 971;
Bastet 1 972.
5 3.
Bastet
1 964;
Bastet a nd D e Vos
1 9-21;
f orthcoming a rticle
1 979.
B IBLIOGRAPHY Abbreviations a s g iven i n F asti Andreae Bastet 3 9
1 973. 1 964.
Andreae, Bastet,
( 1964),
Bastet 1 971.
B .,
Archeologici.
R bmische Kunst,
F .L.,
F reiburg-Basel-Wien,
1 973.
' Wann f ing d er V ierte S til a n?',
B ABesch,
4 6
1 49-155.
B astet,
F .L.,
' Domus Transitoria',
I ,
Bastet,
F .L.,
' Domus Transitoria',
I I,
B ABesch,
( 1971),
1 44-172. Bastet 1 972. ( 1972),
BABesch,
Bastet a nd D e V os
1 979.
Bastet,
F . L.
a nd
D e V os,
M .,
t erzo s tile
Proposta per u na c lassifIcazione
pompeiano,
Archeologische Studiän van h et N ederlands
t e Rome,
4 ,
' s-Gravenhage,
B ianchi Bandinelli
B ianchi Bandinelli
I II,
1 969.
c entro d el potere, 1 960.
Roma,
Boethius,
A .,
of Roman Architecture, Boethius
1 960,
a nd Ward P erkins
1 958.
B orda,
Cameron 1 772. Romains, Cameron
M .,
Cameron, L ondon,
1 775.
E nciclopedia
R .,
L 'arte r omana nel
Some Aspects
1 960.
Boethius,
L a p ittura C h.,
' Fabullus',
T he Golden House of N ero.
Etruscan a nd R oman Architecture, Borda
R .,
1 969.
Ann Arbor, 1 970.
I nstituut
5 66-567.
Bianchi Bandinelli,
M ilano,
t erzo stile
1 979.
1 960.Bianchi Bandinelli,
d ell'arte a ntica,
d el
I l
pompeiano.
Boethius
4 7
6 1-87.
A .
a nd Ward P erkins,
H armondsworth,
r omana,
M ilano,
J .,
1 970. 1 958.
T he Baths of t he R omans,
L es B ains d es
T he B aths of t he R omans,
2 nd Ed.,
1 772.
Cameron,
Ch.,
L ondon,
1 775. Coarelli
1 974.
Coarelli,
F .,
G uida
7 2
archeologica d i
R oma,
M ilano,
1 974.
Coarelli
1 975.
Coarelli,
Basel-Wien, Coarelli
1 980.
F .,
Rom .
E in archäologischer Führer,
F .,
Roma,
Freiburg-
1 975. Coarelli,
Guide
archeologiche Laterza,
6 ,
Roma,
1 980. Crema 1 959.
Crema,
Sezione Dacos
I II,
1 968.
Dacos,
D ialoghi D acos,1969. des
L .,
d i
L 'architettura romana,
Vol.
X II,
N .,
Torino,
' Fabullus et l ' autre peintre de
archeologia,
Dacos,
N .,
grotesques
Enciclopedia c lassica,
1 959.
L a
2 ( 1968),
d gcouverte
a la r enaissance,
d e
la Domus Aurea',
2 10-226. l a
D omus Aurea et la
London-Leiden,
f ormation
1 969.
D e Romanis 1 822. D e Romanis, A ., L e a ntiche c amere esquiline c omunemente d elle t erme d i T ito, d isegnate e i llustrate,
d ette Roma,
1822. Elia
1 957.
Grant
1 970.
Hanfmann
1 967.
8 2
L iversidge
M .,
1 957.
1 970.
A Modern Survey
D as
of t he Art of Imperial
römische Weltreich,
H .,
P ropyläen Kunstge-
1 967.
' La nymphee
L iversidge, i n:
J .,
Munby,
A C elebration
Jocelyn Toynbee, 1 968.
G .,
Napoli,
au Polypheme d e
l a Domus Aurea',
6 73-721.
Wall-Painting',
Lugli
Stabia,
Milano,
Berlin,
Lavagne,
( 1970 ),
Britain.
Nero,
Th.,
Band 2 ,
1 977.
d i
1 964.
Kraus,
1 970.
Mel,
P itture
Hanfmann,
London,
s chichte, Lavagne
0 .,
Grant,
1 964.
Rome, Kraus
Ella,
' Recent Developments
J .
and Henig,
M .,
i n Romano-British
Roman L ife
a nd Art
i n
i n Honour of t he E ightieth Birthday of
B .A.R.,
41
Lugli,
G .,
Nero's
( 1977),
7 5-103.
G olden House
a nd t he
Trajan Baths,
Rome,
1 968. Lugli
1 969.
Lugli,
G .,
L a Domus Aurea e l e
Lugli
1 970.
Lugli,
G .,
I tinerario d i
MacDonald 1 965.
MacDonald,
New Haven-London, Maiuri d el
1 936.
Maiuri,
A .,
Mau 1882.
Mau,
Berlin, Mielsch
Traiano,
M ilano,
Roma,
1 970.
e d i i n
' P.
d elle
C ase
Cornelius
Italia,
d i
' M . Fabius Amandio',
T eges',
Sezione Terza,
Monumenta d ella Pompei,
Fasc.
1 936. A .,
G eschichte
d er d ecorativen Wandmalerei
i n Pompeji,
1 882.
1 975.
1 969.
T he Architecture of t he Roman Empire,
L e p itture
' Sacerdos Amandus' Roma,
Roma a ntica,
d i
1 965.
pittura antica scoperti I I,
W .,
t erme
M ielsch,
H .,
Römische Stuckreliefs,
7 3
Heidelberg,
1 975.
M irri a nd Carletti d elle T erme Nash 1 961.
N ash,
Bd., Nash 1 968. Vol. P eters
E .,
L .
B ildlexikon 1 961.
Nash,
A P ictorial
1 ,
1 977.
E .,
a nd Carletti,
P eters,
W .J.Th.,
G .,
R oma,
z ur T opographie
' La
4 ,
1 786.
P once,
empereur, 1 805.
M .,
MAARome, S anguinetti
D escription
M .,
S chefold 1 957.
v an het Nederlands
( 1977),
L ondon,
9 5-128.
1 970.
d es Bains d e T itus, d es
ou c ollection
t hermes
d e c et
C ollection
d e
T hermes d e L .,
t ableaux e t
T itus,
T he C asa
arabesques a ntiques
P aris, d ei
1 805.
D ioscuri
a nd i ts P ainters.
( 1955).
1 957.
Palladio,
3 9
d ans l es r uines
Richardson,
2 3
2 nd E d.,
1 786.
dans l es
R ichardson 1 955.
R oman Painting,
t rouvges
P aris,
P once,
t rouvges
N ova S eries,
G .,
1 .
c omposizione d elle pareti d ipinte Mededelingen
P icard,
c amere
1 968.
I nstituut
R ome,
a ntiche
d es a ntiken R oms,
n ella Casa d ei Vetti a P ompei', t e
L e
1 776.
D ictionary of A ncient Rome,
N ew Y ork-Washington,
d es p eintures
Ponce
M irri,
T ito e l e loro p itture,
Tübingen,
P icard 1 970. P once
1 776. d i
S anguinetti,
7 ( 1957), S chefold,
F .,
' Lavori
r ecenti nella Domus Aurea',
1 26-127. K .,
D ie W ände P ompejis.
V erzeichnis d er B ildmotive,
B erlin,
Topographisches
1 957.
S chefold 1 962. S chefold, K ., V ergessenes Pompeji. U nveröffentlichte B ilder r ömischer W anddekorationen i n g eschichtlicher F olge herausgegeben, S taccioli
1 979.
Van E ssen 1 954. N eronis',
B ern Munchen,
S taccioli,
R .A.,
R oma e ntro l e mura,
Van E ssen,
C .C.,
' La t opographie
Mededelingen
v an W etenschappen, ( 1954),
l a D omus Aurea
N ieuwe R eeks,
Van E ssen,
C .C.,
1 7,
' La d ecouverte du L aocoon',
d e Koninklijke N ederlandsche Akademie
1 913.
1 979.
v an d e K oninklijke N ederlandsche A kademie
Afdeling L etterkunde,
Afdeling L etterkunde, Weege
d e
Roma,
no.
2
3 71-398.
Van E ssen 1 955. v an
1 962.
W eege,
F .,
N ieuwe R eeks,
1 8
v an
( 1955),
' Das G oldene H aus d es N ero',
M ededelingen
W etenschappen, 2 91-305. JdI,
2 8
( 1913),
1 27-244. Z ander 1 958.
Z ander,
B olletino d el 1 2
( 1958 ),
Z ander 1 965.
' La Domus Aurea.
Nuovi problemi
s tudi p er l a s toria
a rchitettonici',
d ell'architettura,
4 7-64.
Z ander,
Palladio,
G .,
C entro d i
G .,
1 ( 1965),
' Nuovi
s tudi e r icerche
1 57-159.
7 4
s ulla D omus Aurea',
3 .
THE D IFFUSION OF THE THIRD POMPEIAN STYLE I N GAUL Alix Barbet ( translated by Anne Gruaz)
( Le t exte o riginal c ais
d e c ette c onference a e te p rononce e n f ran-
a u s eminaire s ur l a peinture murale p rovinciale a Cambridge
( septembre
1 980 )
e t s era publie
i ntegralement d ans une r evue
f rancaise.) R oman wall painting of t he period 1 00 B .C.-A.D. d ivided i nto f our d ecorative
s tyles;
1 00 has been
t he c hronology a nd d etailed
c lassification have o ften b een s ubject t o d iscussion.
T he d ifficulty
1
i s that we must f ind a s tylistic and t ypological v ocabulary t o d escribe i ts main d ecorative s chemes. The Third S tyle,
which u sed t o be t he
l east c learly d efined,
j ust been s tudied exhaustively by F .L.Bastet a nd M . d e Vos
1 979).
under
I t
d e V os
i s g enerally a greed t hat i t o riginated i n
t he r eign o f Augustus
a nd ended c irca A .D.
has
( BastetI taly
4 0-45.
Wall P ainting i n G aul Mural d ecoration was a s
t he
f irst c entury B .C.
datable t o
3 2 B .C.,
wall paintings, thus s ee t hat
i ntroduced t o Gaul by the Romans, I n G lanum ,
provides
t he
t erminus
which belong to t he
a s early
a g raffito i n the H ouse of S ulla, a nte q uem o f 40 B .C.
S econd S tyle
f or the
( Barbet 1 974).
We c an
i n t he f ield of mural d ecoration t he province of
N arbonnaise does n ot l ag
f ar behind I taly.
A s ynoptic s tudy of t he Third S tyle has not y et been made t hanks t o t he
l ack o f published material.
The p resent writer a nd her t eam
have been engaged i n r esearch on a s eries of mural paintings w ith c ommon f eatures.
Some of t hem were d ated by a rchaeological evidence,
2
others o n the basis of their ornament.
W e s hould f irst note that the
T hird S tyle d id not s pread only t o the S outh o f G aul, o ther more n ortherly s ites Champlieu
but a lso t o
s uch a s Commugny i n S witzerland a nd
( near C ompi gne)(fig.
i mportant s ites have brought t o
3 .1).
I n the valley of t he Rhone,
two
l ight wall paintings which a re t ypical
of the T hird S tyle. I Vienne A ) paintings
( Is re): T he excavations of t he s till i n s itu
herons on a black background, Above
" nympheas":
a lternating w ith c lusters o f plants. f lying
f loor o f t he p eristyle were 3
O ther paintings,
7 5
f igures
f inely d ecorated ( pl.
3 .1).
S ealed
f ragments o f pottery d ating t o t he
Augustan a ge a nd a Gaulish c oin of a t ype t ime of Tiberius.
r evealed mural
i ncluding a f rieze of
i s a black open f ield with a s uccession o f
c andelabra with umbels crowned by i n the
T hese
( subsequently r emoved )
i n u se
a t the
l atest i n the
n otably a panelled d ado w ith
s C HA MPLI E U
'NEUVY- PAI LLOUX
• LE
VE RT
V I EN NE • PERI G UE
0
6 0kin
RO Q
Fig.3.1.
Map o f of
EL A URE
chief
S tyle
s ites
s howing the d iffusion
I II painting i n Gaul.
7 6
diamond-shaped pattern, tend to confirm that the building is Augustan. B) Place St Pierre: Rescue excavations of a building revealed different phases of occupation. In the upper levels there were mosaics with geometric and figured decorations. The lower levels contained wall paintings in situ assigned to the period of Vespasian on pottery evidence from the water-main trench below.4 The motifs in the paintings are typical Third Style: plants in clusters, delicate and forms, crossed thyrsi in the dado, ornamental hearts and round spots, very similar to those (Gers) (pl. 3.2, fig. 3.2). II
of the repertoire of the intricate architectural bands with a pattern of found in Roquelaure
Lyon (Rh&ne):
Excavations in the rue des Farges produced several buildings and a house which had undergone alterations. Fragments of decoration remain ing on the walls were dated·to 10 B.C.-A.D. 10 on the strength of stratigraphical evidence.5 In the main zone, which is plain red, there is a woman ·with flowing drapery reminiscent of the Iphigenia of Magdalensberg.6 The candelabra are Italian in structure and inspiration. Their bases are decorated with small balls and their bell-shaped umbels are exquisitely painted. III
Perigueux (Dordogne):
Excavations in a cellar produced wall-paintings with significant features. The panelled dado imitates the relief of drafted-margin masonry which is typical of the Second Style. There is no perspective in the main zone, which is surrounded by a leaf festoon. Varying motifs, such as herons, candelabra (one is shaped like the trunk of a palm-tree and recalls a Pompeian model), a band o�narnented with hearts and round spots (recalling the similar one found in Vienne), and a medallion with two masks (pls. 3.3., 3.4). Although these paintings cannot be accurately dated, 7 their general pattern follows the trend already noted in Vienne and Lyon and dated to the Augustan period. IV
Roquelaure (Gers):
Only a part of the mural paintings produced by the excavations in "La Sioutat" have been reconstructed and dated between the 2nd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. on the basis of pottery finds. Stately columns rise from bases decorat�d with leaves and cubes.8 They rest on a delicately decorated podium, and we can imagine that there was a parapet or a predella too. An inset panel features a naked Dionysos surrounded by delicate candelabra and a band of ovolo. On other fragments, we find again the ornamented band with the pattern of hearts and small spots typical of the Third Style, but treated here in a slightly different manner. V
Champlieu (in the forest of Compiegne, Oise):
The gallery �ound the temple revealed fragments of paintings as well as a black and white mosaic in situ with the characteristic motif of the eight-lozenge star. From t:1:_� styl� 9�_this mosaic and a Gaulish 77
Plate
3 .1:
Vienne.
Two herons on the s outh wall of the
' nympheas'
Plate
3 .2:
V ienne.
peristyle.
P lace
St.Pierre.
Dado with thirsi.
Plate
3 .3:
P late
Perigueux.
3 .4:
Detail
Perigueux.
Base
from top of panel.
of panel.
W m
Fig.3.2.
Vienne,
place
S t.
Pierre,
drawing of
the plinth with t he oblique thirsi.
29 c m
Fig.3.3.
Champlieu, o f
drawing of
t he decoration
the temple gallery.
c oin f ound n ear t he paintings, t emple g oes back t o t he c lusters a re
a nd t he
we c an i nfer t hat the building o f t he
T iberian period.
l eg of a heron.
The
f ragments
s how p lants
i n
The r ed panels with black s urrounds
f ramed with b lack a nd white
l ines
a s
a t Lyon.
The n arrow upright
panels d isplay c andelabra w ith the motif l ike t he trunk o f a palm-tree and various a nimals o n their s tems
( fig.3.3).
We c ould quote s everal other e xamples of the d iffusion o f t he Third S tyle
i n Gaul,
been published, 1 974).
but a s y et o nly a f ew s tudies o n t he s ubject have
f or the
s ite o f Chize
( Deux-Sevres)
f or e xample
( Allag
Conclusion: I n conclusion, I taly,
w e c an n ote t hat t he T hird S tyle,
d id e xist i n Gaul;
with i ts
I talian models
g reat t own builder)
i t s pread a ll o ver
( that
i s
t he
i mported f rom
c ountry c ontemporaneously
d uring t he r eign o f Augustus,
a nd t hen of T iberius,
who w as a
a nd a chieved a g reat s uccess.
R EMERCIEMENTS P our
l es p eintures d e V ienne,
B oucher e t M . d e M .M.
Tourrenc d e
n ous
l eur a ccueil;
s ommes r edevables ä M M . p our P erigueux,
Gauthier e t c elle d e M .C.Barriere o nt a ccelere
mAme l es
f acilites o ffertes par M .Soubeyran,
P erigueux.
A Auch,
Champlieu M .G.-P.
M .Pere n ous
l a c omprehension l e t ravail,
d e
c onservateur d u musee d e
a ouvert s es a rchives,
d e m6 'me ä
Woimant.
NOTES 1 . 2 .
3 .
A .Mau
( 1882);
B eyen
( 1939,1960 ).
A .Barbet,
L e
Actes d es
s 6minaires
troisibme s tyle
A .Barbet,
J .Canal,
1 979,
d e Pompgi p erspectives nouvelles,
2 9-38.
J .Lancha,
A .Pelletier,
r gcentes ä V ienne, Monuments e t M gmoires, 1 980, 4 .
F ondation E .Piot,
S .Tourrenc,
L a mosaYque
A .Desbats,
V ienne
B .Helly,
Archeologia,
d es
I Ie c olloque
mosaique a ntique,
" athlg ites
1 971-Paris
D .Tavernier,
N o.92,
mars
v ainqueurs",
L a m osaIque
i nternational p our l ' f tude d e 1 975,
L yon
1 35,
s eminaires 6 .
K enner,
7 .
C .Bassier,
1 979,
1 973,
r etrouve s es origines,
1 976, 1 5, f ig.
5 .
B .Helly,
Etudes prglim-
M .Cantet,
A .Pere,
R oquelaure
2 2.
M .Sarradet, d e
Actes d es
1 3.
f ig.
c atalogue
l a
n ote 1 .
i naire s ur l es peintures murales g allo-romaines d e L yon,
8 .
6 4,
1 7-140.
g rgco-romaine,
5 .
D gcouvertes archgologiques
L a
"fresque P inel",
l 'exposition,
( Gers),
L es
B ordeaux,
f ouilles
Auch,
1 964, 8 2
1 979,
V gsone
c ite b imillgnaire,
6 8-70.
d u p lateau d e l a S ioutat ä 6 -16.
S ELECTED B IBLIOGRAPHY Allag,
C .,
1 974.
" L 'etablissement gallo-romain du V ert",
l a Socigtg h istorique e t s cientifique 1 974,
A .,
1 975b.
H .G.,
1 939-1960.
H .G.,
1 956.
BABesch.,
La H aye,
1 939,
A .,
e t d ans B arbet,
1 968.
A .,
B arbet,
A .,
avril B astet,
" Peintures d e
l ' Empire r omain", 1 974.
N arbonnaise,
I ,
1 975.
1 975, F .L.,
e n G aule
d es P eintures M urales 2 7e s uppl.
ä G allia,
a Alesia" L a
d e l a G aule, P aris,
1 974.
R echerche,
4p . D e V os,
B lanckenhagen,
P .H.
B oscotrecase",
von,
R .M.,
a nd A .,
Proposte per u na c lassificazione d el 1 979.
Alexander, s upp1.6,
1 975.
1 962.
" The Paintings
" Scavi nuovi s conosciuti
s tile a c andelabri" M eded., 1 974.
C .,
" Nota s ul
f rom
1 962.
P iture memorande d i P ompei.
0 .,
I mperiale) s q.
1 45-176.
f asc.1,
" Le monument d 'Ucuetis
5 4
" schematique"
1 968,
G gngral
1 979.
E lia,
2 6,
( Villa
1 956,
G lanum,
Rome,
M .
s econd s tyle
3 1,
R ecueil
M .,
1 2):
2 25-236.
1 960.
B ABesch.,
G allia,
t erzo s tile pompeiano,
D e Vos,
1 975,
" A propos o f the V illa Suburbana
n ear t he P orta Marina a t P ompei", B arbet,
5 0,
D ie pompejanische W anddekoration v om zweitem
z um v ierten S til,
B eyen,
d e
2 e s 6rie,7,
" Zur Datierung d er Wandmalerein i n d er
V illa I mperiale i n Pompeji",
b is
Bulletin
D eux-S vres,
1 93-214.
Allroggen-Bedel,
B eyen,
d es
( 1,11,
1 4;
I ,
1 1,
Con una t ipologia provvisoria d ello
XXXVIII,
4 7-85.
l If S tile p ompeiano"
R end.
Nap.,
n .s.
XLIX,
1 55-166. K enner,
H .,
bericht, K enner, 1 4, L ing,
H .,
1 973. 1 3,
1 980.
1 973-1974, R .J.,
1 978.
p rospects", Maiuri,
A .,
" Wandmalereien aus AA/15f",
1 973,
" Wanmalereien aus T/H", 1 980,
M agdalensberg-Grabungsbericht,
1 43-180.
" Pompeii a nd H erculaneum
BAR,
1 938.
M agdalensberg-Grabungs-
2 09-281.
S uppl.
S .41,
1 978,
: r ecent r esearch a nd f uture
1 53-174.
" Le pitture d ella c asa d i M .Fabius Amandio d el
S acerdos Amandus e d i P .Cornelius T eges", M onumenti a ntica scoperti i n Italia, R ome, 1 938, I II, 1 ,2. Mau,
A .,
1 882.
B erlin,
G eschichte d er d ekorativen W andmalerei
d ella p ittura
i n P ompeji,
1 882.
S chefold,
K .,
1 957.
D ie Wände Pompejis,
S chefold,
K .,
1 962.
V ergessenes Pompeiji,
8 3
B erlin,
1 957.
B erne-Munich,
1 962.
S pinazzola,
V .,
1 953. P ompei a lla luce d egli s cavi nuovi d i
A bbondanza, Rome, Anonyme, D ijon,
1 980.
V ia d ell'
1 953.
P einture murale e n G aule, A ctes d es s gminaires 1 979,
1 980.
8 4
4 .
ROMAN WALL PAINTING
:
T ECHNIQUE OF R ESTORATION AND MOUNTING Claudine Allag ( translated by R oger L ing ) Research workers who work on wall painting a re c onstantly being f aced with the problem of c onserving a nd presenting t o t he public p laster f ound i n f ragments.
E ven when these have been p ieced together
l ike a j igsaw puzzle a nd i t i s possible t o understand t he d ecorative s cheme,
the treatment o f t he e nsemble
d ifficulty. s tores
Most of the t ime the
a nd gradually c rumble a way.
t o s tore t hem i n g ood c ondition,
a nd i ts presentation r emain a
f ragments
a re l eft i n c rates
i n museum
To put them o n d isplay,
o r a t l east
i t i s n ecessary t o produce
a s upport
which will bind them together a nd make t hem easy t o transport. The t echnique of mounting here d escribed has been u sed f or a bout t en years by Mmi e Alix Barbet a t the Centre d 'Etudes d es P eintures Murales R omaines
( C.N.R.S.).
I t i s of c ourse only t he c urrent s tage
r eached i n our r esearch i nto the preservation o f Roman painting, we k eep trying t o i mprove the process.
Any criticisms,
a nd
s uggestions o r
i nformation on c omparable t echniques will be welcomed. P reliminary t reatment of t he I t i s
f ragments:
f irst necessary t o c lean the
best to d o this while they a re dry,
f ragments thoroughly.
I t i s
u sing a s urgical b lade which s hould
be s craped over the s urface of t he painting c arefully without s cratching i t.
The backs
a nd the edges
The p ieces
a re then stuck t ogether with v inylic adhesive.
paint f orms blisters, u nder the c oating.
the same adhesive d iluted i n water c an be
I n a ny c ase t he painted s urface
s olution of 5 % Paraloid B 7 2 Trichlorethane). whole
a re l ightly brushed.
( ethyl methacrylate)
i s
I f t he i njected
f ixed w ith a
i n c hlorothene
I f t he mortar i s particularly f ragile,
one
( 1,1,1
c an d ip t he
f ragment i n the s olution. E lr agments are a ssembled by c omparing t heir d ecoration and t heir
mortar.
Ensembles a re
f ormed f rom f ragments which f it t ogether:
g raphic r econstruction must take i mportance,
a ccount of a ll t he
even when they d o n ot j oin,
takes place only where
a
f ragments of
but mounting i n m odern panels
f ragments a ctually j oin.
Mounting: 1 )
The e nsemble which i s t o be mounted i s l aid,
on a b ed of s and r esting on a l ight board s ates z ontal
f or i rregularities
( fig.
painted s ide u pwards, 4 .1);
i n t he mortar a nd enables
s urface t o b e a chieved.
t he s and c ompen-
a p erfectly hori-
The horizontality c an b e c hecked w ith a
s pirit l evel. 2 )
The painted s urface
i s c oated w ith adhesive:
8 5
t his
i s t he
same
Fig.4.1.
F ragments f or mounting.
Fig.4.2.
Mortar being r emoved f rom the back o f the f ragments.
Paraloid B 72 which was used to fix the painting, but now applied in a stronger concentration (30%) to serve as a glue. The ensemble is then covered with ,SYIJ.thetic gauze, stretched perfect_ly taut '(a single layer at first,· tjlen�·� number of diagonal strips intercrossing to give extra strength) • Ov�r· this,' is laid a jute canvas. Both the gauze and the canvas are fixea�:t�/. �e edge of the board by drawing-pins. 3) A second bo�\d �o�·-·ihe same size as. the supportir;g board is··'laid over the fragments. \r,t is':e$sential to interpose· a thick layer of paper between the cany.as 'and the bbard to pr�vent the adhesive from permeating through to. the··· board. Tne· t'wo boards are fixed together by means ·of clamps if the panel is small and light, or by bolts pas�ed through the wood and fastened with nuts if it is heavier. 4) The ensemble is turned·over; the remaining work is carried out on the reverse, and it is necessary to unpin the gauze and the canvas and fix them to the board which is riow at the bottom. The board and the sand are removed. Around the fragments, wherever the gauze is visible, a thin layer (3 mm) of synthetic mortar is poured in. The mortar is composed of 3 parts (in volume) of Mowilith ·o (Polyvinyl acetate), 1 .part of Mowilith DO 25, 4 parts of water, 1 part of powdered lime stone, and 12 to 16 parts of sifted river-sand. 5) After this·m�rtar has dried and the fragments are firmly fixed in place, the ancient mortar is removed with a scalpel or rubbed away with a file (fig. 4.2). One of the fragments that has not been incorporated must of course be kept complete as a representative sample. When only the layer of surface-plaster (or a thickness of 2 or 3 mm. if this is indistinct) remains, it is consolidated with a layer of Caparol (fixative L F) . 6) A second thin layer of synthetic mortar is spread over the whole surface to make it perfectly even. Before it is hard set, gauze should be applied to serve as a bond with the supporting structure. 7) Applying the supporting structure is the next step: this consists of a sheet of "honey-comb ,i in cardboard coated with bakelite, placed between two layers of glass fibre impregnated with synthetic resin (Araldyte). It must be subjected to heavy pressure so that the resin binds together all three elements: the gauze covering the mortar, the glass fibre, and the "honey-comb" (fig. 4.3). 8) The panel is once again turned over to be "unveiled". Board and paper are taken off. The canvas and the gauze are damped with solvent (chlorothene) and covered with cellulose padding into which the adhesive will rise after the evaporation of the solvent. This operation must be repeated several times until the adhesive is totally eliminated and the gauze· can be removed without pulling it. 9) It is generally preferable to replace the mortar between the frag ments with a thin layer of plaster of the same sort (using Mowilith as a binding medium) but with a greater proportion of marble powder (possibly incorporating a little powdered ancient mortar) and rather less sand. We usually leave the fragments slightly above the surface level in order to make them stand out clea�ly. The edges of the panel are smoothed with a buffing wheel, and the interstices of the "honey comb" filled with a mortar analogous to that used for the surface-finish. 87
Fig.4.3.
Summary of t he d ifferent phases a s 1 .
Fragments held by gauze and canvas.
2 .
Thin
l ayers of
s ynthetic mortar keeps
f ragments
them i n position.
3 .
Removal of ancient mortar.
4 .
Second l ayer o f
5 .
Honeycomb coated with bakelite between two g lass
Fig.4.4.
of mounting the
s een f rom the back.
Final
s ynthetic mortar and gauze. l ayers of
f ibre and r esin.
r econstruction.
Example
f rom Genainville
( Val d 'Oise).
S pecial c ases: 1 )
L ifting of plaster f rom a wall.
principally f or
The method d escribed a bove
f ragmentary c omplexes
s tudied i n the
i t can be a pplied equally well to paintings o nly t he
f irst o peration i s
c arried out o n the s pot.
d ifferent:
and c leaned.
Then blades a re
b oards, 2 )
i s
i s
s upported by m eans o f boards.
s lid between t he wall a nd t he mortar,
Painting on a barrel vault o r other c oncave
s ame
or between two
t hat t hey w ill s plit more e asily.
The
s upporting
s ubmitted t o the various o perations a lready d escribed.
o f the painting i s not board.
i s
s atisfactorily,
( artificially i f t he a tmosphere i s
r emoved a nd taken t o t he l aboratory o n the
t o b e
But
I n t his c ase
t he a ttachment of t he gauze
The painted surface
l ayers of mortar i f i t a ppears e nsemble
s itu.
To ensure that t he g lue adheres
t he painting must f irst be d ried damp )
f ound i n
i s u sed
l aboratory.
I n t hat c ase,
curve a s
f lat,
we put
s urface.
I f t he
s urface
i t i s n ot possible t o a pply a straight a cradling i n thin p lywood presenting the
t he p laster a nd held i n position by battens.
u sed both f or l ifting plaster i n s itu,
a nd i n t he c ase
This c an be
i t i s
a pplied t o
t he s urface of f ragments which have been a ssembled a nd c overed w ith c anvas 3 )
i n t he manner d escribed a bove.
Painting
f ragments
i n a s emi-dome.
f rom
We have
would not have r eflected t he d ifferent t echnique was t he
c anvas,
s ubstance,
a lso b een c alled u pon t o d eal w ith
he c eiling of a s emi-dome, d ouble
t ested :
t he painting was
where a s imple
H ere a
after the a pplication of t he g auze and
s prayed with polyurethane
which e xpands i n d rying,
which i t i s a pplied a nd becomes
c urved board
s ense of the c urvature.
t akes t he
f oam.
s hape of t he
r igid enough t o a ct a s
t he
This
s urface to s upporting
structure when the plaster i s turned over. I t i s t herefore impossible t o e nsemble
i s
a s pecial c ase
l ay d own g eneral r ules;
each painted
f or w hich a n a ppropriate t echnique must be
f ound. Graphic r epresentation o f t he missing parts o f t he d ecoration: When the paintings have been mounted i n m odern panels, presence of gaps, t he motifs.
both l arge a nd s mall,
There a re
may a ffect the
t he
l egibility of
s everal possible methods o f r epresenting missing
e lements
( trattegio i n t he tones of t he motifs t o b e
i n c lose
i mitation o f t he original);
v isible a nd t o i ndicate the main
c ompleted,
painting
we prefer t o l eave t he mortar
l ines
o f the c omposition o r the
tours
o f t he motif i n t he prevailing t ints o f t he d ecoration
I t i s
a bdve a ll n ecessary t o be
f lexible:
c on-
( fig.
4 .4 ).
e ach t ype of painting s hould
be g iven t he k ind of r econstruction which s uits
i t best.
B IBLIOGRAPHY Allag,
C .,
L e Bot,
a ppendice romaines", Barbet, d e
A .,
A .,
1 979.
" Bourges,
l a peinture murale gallo-romaine,
s ur L a r estitution sur s upport m oderne d es peintures galloArcheologia,
1 974.
No.132,
2 8-36.
" Le Centre d 'Etude
S oissons,"Archeologia,
No. 7 1,
8 9
d es P eintures Murales Romaines
40-51.
5 .
RÖMISCHE WANDMALEREI Mathilde
IN KÖLN
S chleiermacher
Das r ömische Köln,die C olonia C laudia Ara Agrippinensis l iegt unter d er mittelalterlichen und neuzeitlichen B ebau= ung.Zahlreiche
Baumaßnahmen veranlassen Archäologen und Aus=
gräber s tändig
s ogenannte Notbergungen v ornehmen z u müssen.
Daher
s ind unter a nderem a uch z ahlreiche Fundstellen r ömi=
s cher Wandmalereifragmente
z u verzeichnen:
Köln-Müngersdorf,
Neumarkt und neuerdings G ertrudenstraße,Brinkgasse,Pipinstra= ß e/Elogiusplatz und besonders H ier,unweit H ohe
d er B ereich um d en Kölner D om.
d er r ömischen Hauptverkehrsstraße,der h eutigen
S traße,traf man auf d ie Fundamente mehrerer großer Peri=
s tylhäuser,darunter d es Hauses mit
d em D ionysosmosaik,eines
M ithraeums und e ines Atriumhauses. Malereifragmente mit Kande= laberdekoration und mit E inzeldarstellungen v on T ieren kamen zutage.Aus
d ed i Atriumhaus
s tammt
e in T ierfries,ähnlich
Trierer Fries v om Konstantinsplatz Kölner T ierfries
i st
( um 2 75 n .Chr.).
l eider s ehr s chlecht
Fragmente verschiedener Wände
D er
erhalten.Weitere
z eigen e inen Kopf ‚ Architektur=
d etails,Ranken und Kandelaber.Einige l ereien waren g epickt
1 )
d em
d er a ufgefundenen Ma=
zur Vorbereitung f ür e ine neue Über=
malung.Wir haben häufig mit Renovierungen zu r echnen,davon i st j edoch wenig übrig g eblieben.Die Malerei wurden meist d ingte
a l
f resco
großen F lächen d er
a ngelegt.Diese
T echnik b e=
e in neues Auftragen d es Putzuntergrundes
s ich n icht Malerei
s elten
.s odaß
e ntschloß,den g esamten Putz m it
m an
d er a lten
a bzuschlagen.
D er günstige
Erhaltungszustand v on weiteren Malereifrag=
menten und e ine umfassende Wände
e ines
D omes
z u r ekonstruieren.
B ergungsmöglichkeit
größeren Raumes v on d er S üdseite
Q uerwände v on 4 ,5o m ,ca.
2 )
e rlaubten e s,
d es Kölner
D ie Längswände v on 7 ,7o m und d ie 2 ,8o m h och,waren mit
e iner Kande=
laberdekoration b emalt. Dieses Wandsystem i st p ompejanischen Wänden vergleichbar.Es
g liedert
Orthostatenteil und Fries.Die d er Mittelzone
s ich in S ockel,aufgehenden
großen e infarbig r oten F elder
d ominieren S ie werden v on s chwarzen S treifen
mit K andelabern g etrennt,die
oben i n
e inen Fries mit
a b=
wechselnden Motiven münden.Sphingen,Amphoren und Masken
9 1
Abb.
5 .2.
FO:Domplatte nach P lan G .Precht.
Abb.
5 .1.
Das r ömische K öln. CCAA n ach J . Klinkenberg
S chwarz -Ueiß -Aufnahmen:
Abb.
5 .3.
S epp Wagner
K andelaberwand B m it Türöffnung,
FO K öln,
D omsudseite
1 969.
l ösen S chwäne,Greifen und Kitharen über d en r oten F eldern a b.Zarte
B lütengirlanden verbinden
d ie M otive
Säulen mit k orinthischen Kapitellen,die s treifen b egrenzen, und das
d es
Frieses.
d ie Kandelaber=
darüberliegende h orizontale G e=
bälk mit E ierstab wechseln in d er Farbe.Unter d em Fries -a b= s chnitt mit
d en S chwänen
d en Sphingen grüne
f inden
s ich g elbe,unter d em m it
Säulen und E ierstäbe.Die
d er Wände b ilden grüne und purpurne l eiste
in S tuck - nur noch
ordnen
s ich
B egrenzung
S treifen.Eine E ierstabz
d ie Abdrücke
erkannt werden - vermittelt
o bere
d erselben k onnten
zur D ecke h in.Schachbrettartig
d ie S ockelfelder im Wechsel
v on S chwarz und R ot
g egenüber d en M ittelfeldern. Unter e inem r oten M ittelfeld l iegt
e in s chwarzes
S ockelfeld und umgekehrt.Die b ebilderten
S ockelfelder werden v on kleinen Säulen g erahmt.Den unteren Abschluß b ildet
e in S t : 7eifen in A ltrosa,ca.3o
cm h och m it
weißen,grünen i und s chwarzen Farbspritzern.Eine Weinlese
s chmückt
d en erhaltenen T eil
d es
f röhliche
g egenüber d en Kande=
laberstreifen breiteren s chwarzen Mittelfeldes.Unbeschwertes Tun versetzt
d en B eschauer in
G edankengutes:
Eroten ernten
d ie
s orglose Welt
d ionysischen
d ie r eifen Trauben,die
ihnen
e in Satyr bezeichnet.Auf d er g egenüberliegenden Wand mag e ine verwandte S zene wesen
s ein:
rankt
i st
h ier mit
a us
d em d ionysischen B ereich d argestellt g e=
e ine Weinranke,die
a us
e inem Kantharos
empor=
erhalten,ein e inschenkender Satyr und Pan g ehörten zur S zenerie.In
d en Kandelaberstreifen d er b esser
erhaltenen Wand e rscheinen D ionysos mit Thyrsosstab und Panther und g egenüber P omona mit erhalten i st
e inem Früchtekorb.Am b esten
d er S treifen mit D ionysos
e inem r eich verzierten Kantharos wächst empor.Phantasievoll
s ind d ie
a ls Hauptfigur.Aus d er S chirmkandelaber
Zwischenregionen m it
g eflügel=
t en S irenen unten,mit Panthern und Trauben i n d er Mitte ausgestattet.Die S chirme variieren i n R ot und Grün,die Ränder s ind verschieden g ezackt.Pomona l e ine hält
Fruchtbarkeitsgöttin,
e inen großen Früchtekorb.Das Köpfchen i st
d em S chirmchen d arunter s itzen zwei Nymphen.Aus überliegenden Wand i st halten,das
das Motiv d er b eiden
ergänzt.Auf d er g egen=
" Grilloy"
er=
s ind Karikaturen oder mißproportionierte G estalten
w ie Pygmäen.Das m ittlere
S ockelfeld d ieser Wand z eigt
r otem Grund d ie Darstellung
a uf
d es Heiden B ellerophon,hier 9 3
Abb.
5 .4
K andelaberwand, Weinernte.
Abb.
5 .5.
K andelaberwand D ionysos
Abb.
5 .6.
K agdelaberwand S ockelfeld B ellerophon
Abb.
5 .7.
K andelaberwand P omona.
Abb.
5 .8.
K andelaberwand D ionysos
Abb.
5 .9.
K andelaberwand D etail
Abb.
5 .10.
K andelaberwand Meerwesen
Abb.
5 .11.
K andelaberwand geflügelte Büste
Abb.
5 .12.
Neufund, Gertrudens trasse Gorgo
zum Putto
verniedlicht.Er b ekämpft
d ie
g efährliche
d rei=
köpfige Chimaira m it L öwen-,Schlangen- und Z iegenkopf.Die s enkrechten Randleisten
d er Wände werden v on l angen S chilf=
s tengeln g eziert. E ine
e twas variierte D ekoration b ieten
H ier k onnte
d ie Wandgliederung m it
d ie S eitenwände.
d en Friesmotiven r ekon=
s truiert werden.Die Kandelaber s ind kaum e rhalten.Nur das r ote M ittelfeld w ird v on Säulen g erahmt.Im Fries über d en B lattkapitellen
f ühren Putten S eewesen.Geflügelte
B üsten
s itzen über d en S eitenfeldern,deren grüne Randstreifen b is z u
d en H orizontalstreifen über d em Fries h ochgezogen D ie Malerei
i st
f lott und g ekonnt h ingesetzt.Weiß=
h öhung in d en l ichten Partien;warme
d unkle S chattentöne
b ewirken P lastizität u nd T iefe.Besonders D ifferenzierung
f ein k ommt
d ie
d er Weinranken und Trauben z ur G eltung.
Weiße und 1 4o te Trauben hängen in d er Laube,die B lätter d es H intergrundes
s ind dunkel
f ahleren
h intermalt und e nt=
falten daher im M ittelgrund räumliche Wirkung,die g eheimnisvolle T iefe t enflügel
s ind.
- um e s
d es Raumes
f ührt.Brilliant
an e inem B eispiel
i n d ie
s ind Put=
z u v erdeutlichen - in
f einen hellen Umrissen aufgesetzt.Sie b leiben d urchsichtig auf
d em dunklen H intergrund.
D ie
r ekonstruierten großen Kölner Kandelaberwände weisen
v orwiegend Themen d es
d ionysischen B ereichs
Mittelfeldern
z ieht
d en
s ich.Dionysos und d ie
B lick auf
P omona s tehen
a uf.In d en
d ie Weinernte mit Satyrn,Pan und Eroten Fruchtbarkeitsgöttin
s ich in d en Kandelaberstreifen g egenüber.
S chwäne,Greifen,Sphingen
s ind d em großen Naturgott
z uzu=
ordnen.Die Kithara e her d em Apollon,doch a uch Apollon f in= d en wir im Verein mit D ionysos. Masken l en
d er D ionysien n icht
d urften b ei
d en Spie=
f ehlen.Gewiß, wir haben h ier D eko=
ration v or uns,Dekoration l iebgewordener M otive,die
a ber
d ennoch ihren B ezug zu Leben und G lauben hatten.Der B estel= l er hatte vertritt
s ie
s o
ausgewählt.Die griechische Mythologie
B ellerophon a ls verniedlichter Putto,der d ie
g e=
fährliche Chimaira b ekämpft.Seewesen, von Putten g eführt, symbolisieren G lück und frohes S ie
s chließen
s ich
S ein i n d em nassen E lement.
a n hellenistische Tradition an,die uns
9 7
im Hochzeitszug
d es P oseidon und d er Amphitrite
g enannten D omitiusara in München E ine das
s olche Dekoration drückt
d ie
Freude
gab und e s
B ildungsinhalte
aus
fanden daneben d ie
b egegnet.
am Dasein aus und
G eborgensein in e iner G laubenswelt,die
und Inhalt
wie
( Glyptothek)
d em Leben S inn
traditionellen
d er griechischen Mythologie
d ie Überlieferung
auf d er s o=
e benso P latz
f eststehender F igurentypen oder D eko-
rationsweisen. D er Grabungsbefund g ibt keine
s o
f ür unsere Kandelaberwand l eider
f esten Datierungsanhalte w ie
wäre.Die Wandgliederung mit f ormen
l ehnt
3 )
b esonders
v ierten S til.Auch d erWand d urch Friese
d en r eduzierten Architektur=
s ich noch a n d en dritten p ompeianischen S til
a n.Gute Vergleichsbeispiele P ompeji,
d ies wünschenswert
f inden
s ich im Vettierhaus
in d em großen Gartensaal
d ort
s ind d ie
s chwarze
S treifen und h orizontale
s ich Kandelaber-und Rankenwerk
wickeln,und wir b egegnen in j enen Räumen Puttenszenen wie b ei Raum 2 .Stils man
aus
d er Mysterienvilla z eigt
b lieb. noch
4 )
b ei
indessen w ie
s tark
i n S ockel,Orthostatenteil
D ie Säulenarchitektur i st,wenn auch v erflacht,immer
aus P ompeji
d es
auf
Z eit oder e twas
Entstehung
Säulen und
z u v erwenden,werten w ir a ls
d er Kölner Malerei
s päter.Damals kam d ie T endenz
augusteispher Z eit
3 .Stils
s chwarzem Grund.Die Neigung,
3 .und frühen 4 .Stils
a uf d ie
Provinzen
e iner Gartenlandschaft
z eigt wiederum Verwandtes:schmale
d ekorative Pflanzenmalerei
H inweis
e inen
d er provinzialrömischen Kölner Wand v erhaftet
e inbezogen.Die Malerei
F ormen
e nt=
d en verniedlichten
d er Kölner Malerei.Der B lick i n
d er Tradition d er Dreiteilung
und Fries
d em frühen
g roßen r oten Mittelflächen
s enkrechte
g egliedert, worin
a us
i n
in trajanischer auf,Klassizismen
in d er H ofkunst w ieder aufzunehmen.In d en
d ürfte mit
e iner l eichten R etardierung
d er Kunst=
s trömungen zu r echnen
s ein,sodaß w ir m it unserem Datierungs=
v orschlag
2 . Viertel
e twa i n
das
d es
D ie nächstverwandten B eispiele d ekor Xanten
2 .Jh.n.Chr.gelangen. f ür unseren Kandelaber=
s ind im näheren Umkreis,in Köln s elbst,in B onn und i n 5 )
zu f inden.Seit Mitte
Erfindungen
in
d es
1 .Jh.n.Chr.sind s olche
d en nördlichen Provinzen b eliebt.Diese Art
v on D ekoration h ielt
s ich b is
In C ommugny,Genfer S ee,
6 )
e twa z ur Mitte
erhielten 9 8
d es
3 .Jh.n.Chr.
s ich Fragmente m it
Pflanzen,Architekturdetails und Kandelaberdekoration,die b esonders
s orgfältig
s tils und d es
a usgeführt
s ind und aufgrund d es Mal=
d reischichtigen Aufbaues
in das '2.Viertel
1 .Jh.n.Chr.datiert werden.Wandmalereifragmente Cambodunum Chr.Sie
7 )
a us Kempten-
e ntstanden nach d em Ausgrabungsbefund um 5 o n .
z eigen Rankenwerk,Zierstreifen,Kandelaber und Wasser=
pflanzen. Unter d en Augsburger Wandmalereifragmenten d et
d es
s ich Kandelaberdekor i n
f in=
8 )
s chwarzen S treifen,grün g erahmt,
neben e inem größeren r oten M ittelfeld.Ein S chwan und g e= f lügelte
S phingen b ilden d ie
f igürlichen E lemente.Die Augs=
burger Fragmente müssen nach g ehörigen G ebäude und i hren f rühen
d er Entstehungszeit
s tilistischen Merkmalen i m
2 .Jh.n.Chr.geschaffen w orden
Kempten
s ind d ie
f ür d en
s o
d er z u=
s ein.Augsburg und
am weitesten ö stlich g elegenen Fundorte
ausgebildeten provinziellen Kandelaberdekor.
Für das Vorkommen i n Trier greifen wir das
B eispiel
Palaestrabereich d er Trierer Kaiserthermen heraus, s chwarzgrundigen S treifen,bemalt zwischen r oten F eldern,die v on
a us e inen
i n Grün-und O ckertönen,
s chmalen grünen B ordüren
g esäumt werden.Die S ockelfelder d ieser Wände
t ragen d ie
b ekannten Reiherdarstellungen,
f indet
ä hnlich w ie
b ei
d em
9 )
d en Kölner Wänden
unter i hnen
s ich
e in g espritzter S ockel=
s treifen i n Altrosa mit weißen und s chwarzen S prenkeln. D ie
r oten Felder tragen außerdem e ine
g elbe
f iligranartige
Rahmenzier.Der Ausgrabungsbefund weist i n d ie d es
1 .Jh.n.Chr.,die Malereien k önnen danach noch aus n ero=
n ischer Z eit
s tammen, wie
In N ida-Heddernheim 1 .Hälfte
d es
1 °)
k
j ene
nach M .Borda e ines
d enn
a us
d er s og.Basilika i n Trier.
Kandelaberdekoration a us
2 .Jh.n.Chr.zutage.Aus Vienne
Narbonensis kennen wir e inen
Von
zweite Hälfte
1 1)
d er
in d er Gallia
s chmalen Kandelaberstreifen,
trajanischer Z eitstellung,mit
d er B ekrönung
S chreitenden,der d em Satyrn unserer Weinernte
d ort e s
s cheint
auch
s ind i n Vienne
e ine Verbindung nach Trier z u f ühren, s ehr ä hnliche R eihersockel
g etreten.Wir haben f erner d ie gallorömischen T empels wähnen.Die
g leicht.
I I
S ockel weisen
f lavischen Wandmalereien d es
in E lst e ine
z utage
( Niederlande )
F elderteilung mit
1 2)
z u e r=
I nkrusta=
t ionsmalerei
a uf,darunter f indet
s treifen.Die
F elder d er Mittelzone werden durch Kandelaber= 9 9
s ich d er g espritzte
S chmutz=
s treifen g etrennt.Von d em darunterliegenden T empel d ischer Z eit
erhielten
näheren Umkreis Kölns
s ich nur e inige S ockelfragmente.Im treffen wir ,das S chirmkandelaber=
motiv zwischen d er 1 . Hälfte Mitte
d es
s ere Wände
I c lau=
d es
2 .Jh.n.Chr.bis
e twa z ur
3 .Jh.n.Chr.an.Einer Kölner Malerwerkstatt,die un= a usführte,sind noch
d er Umgegend z uzuweisen:
E s
e inige
a ndere Malereifunde
s ind d ies Malereifragmente m it
S chwänen aus Köln-Müngersdorf,ein Malereikomplex v om Neu= markt
i n Köln m it Kandelaberstreifen,bekrönt v on e inem P e=
gasos,Fragmente mit
e inem Amazonenkampf v on d er Kölnstraße
in B onn und Fragmente mit Kentauren a us werkerviertel,sowie Fragmente
aus
ben Hauses v on d er D omplatte,aus Auf i hnen
f inden
e inem Xantener Hand=
e inem Nachbarraum d essel= d em unsere Wand s tammt.
1 3)
s ich S eewesen,denen unserer S eitenwände
s ehr
1 955 zutage ge=
ähnlich, und V ictorien. Diese Putzreste waren
kommen und v on 0 . Doppelfeld r ekonstruiert w orden.Eine neue Rekonstruktion l egte A .Linfert nach d en Ausgrabungen 1 4 v or. D ie
laufenden Grabungen
d ieses
Jahres
1 969
erbrachten e rneut
Wandmalereifragmente mit Kandelaberdekoration,mit bunten S treifen und Mengen v on e infarbigen r oten S tücken.Poly= chrome
Streifenfragmente kamen
in d er Brinkgasse
während d es U-Bahnbaues wurden i n
z utage und
d er P ipinstraße/Elogius=
c a .6o Fundkisten v cn Malereifragmenten g eborgen.Wie=
p latz
d erum Fragmente
größerer r oter F lächen,bunter S treifen und
S ockelteile,darunter das naturgetreue Abbild e iner Ente. bedeutendsten neuen Malereifunde d ie
i n
s tammen aus
d er G ertrudenstraße,unweit
e ntstand wahrscheinlich erst Ende
fang
2 .Jh.n.Chr.nach d em Bau
D ie
d es
Fragmente,nicht mehr in
e iner V illa,
d es Neumarktes
wird.Sie
D ie
d es
e rgraben
1 .oder An=
d er r ömischen S tadtmauer.
s itu pwaren aus
e iner Füllschicht
g eborgen worden, welche unter e inem E strich d es
3 .Jh.n.Chr.
lag. Die b isher zusammengesetzten T eile
g ehören
e iner Kande=
laberdekoration auf
a n, die
große r ote
s chwarzen S treifen
F elder trennte.Die
Kandelaber,deren S chirmchen b ilden
B ekrönung
grün g erahmt,
d er m indestens v ier
e infallsreich variiert
B üsten und G orgonenhäupter,
M otive wie
s ie
s ind, i n d ieser
F orm b isher v on Kandelaberstreifen n och nicht b ekannt waren, e inzeln
in Medaillons
oder in Friesen indessen 100
s chon i n
P ompeji
anzutreffen s ind.
1 5)
D ionysos,
e ine Mänade und zwei
G orgonenhäupter hatte
d er B esteller d ieser Malerei
motive
Büsten s itzen auf
ausgewählt. Die
D er Büstenausschnitt r eicht nur b is G orgo
i st
j eweils
d ie Mänade halten
a ls Haupt=
e inem S chirm auf.
zum Halsansatz,von d er
a llein d er Kopf w iedergegeben.Dionysos und e inen Thyrsosstab.Im braunen haar l iegt
e in Epheukranz,weiße P inselstriche g eben
B lüten b ilden d en Ohrschmuck.Sichere d ie Z eichnung v on Augen,Nase und Mund .
Warme
Farbtöne
d ifferenzieren d ie S chattenpartien.Sorgfältig
l iegt
d ie Weißhöhung auf S tirne,Nase und Wangen.Charakteri=
s tisch ersc l 'einen h ier d ie
s icher g esetzten S chrägschraffuren.
H intergrundflächen und S treifen
s ind g eglättet,in d en Gesicht
t ern b lieben grobere P inselstriche weist
dagegen Unterschiede
s tehen. Das Haupt
auf.Die G esichtszüge
d er G orgo
s ind a llgemei=
ner,eher puttenhaft g estaltet. Die L ichter s ind breit F lotte weiche P inselführung S chlangen,die
f ormt
aufgesetzt.
d ie Rundungen d er Wangen.Die
s ich um das Haupt winden und d ie F lügel
im
h ochgebundenen Haar wirken in ihrer S tilisierung v olkstümlich. D en Stil können wir mittels
d er Augen am besten f assen. Mit nur
wenigen Strichen werden s ie charakterisiert
a ls groß und weit
aufgerissen.Die Modellierung i st malerisch und weich,besonders darin l iegt Das Licht
d er s tilistische Unterschied g egenüber d er Mänade. 1 6) fällt von oben l inks e in. E in Kopf aus Xanten
weist Parallelen in d er Malweise führung
auf,obgleich d ie P insel=
d ort kräftiger e rscheint.Dieser t eilweise
expressi=
vere Malstil,- vergleichen wir d ie beiden Kandelaberwände mit
d er Weinernte und d ie Fragmente mit
i n hadrianisch-antoninische Z üge
erneut
d en B üsten - f ührt
Z eit.Damals wurden h ellenistische
in d er Kunst tradiert.Dies prägt
a llem in d er weicheren barocken S ehweise d em Haupt
s ich h ier .vor
aus,besonders
d er G orgo.Die F iguren v on d er Wand mit
s ind dagegen noch
i n
d er Weinlese
s tärker d em Klassizismus verhaftet.In
Köpfen v on D ionysos und d er Mänade phische Momente,die wir mit
f inden s ich
s tarke
d en
gra=
d em F esthalten an d er ä lteren
Maltradition e rklären.Viele vergleichbare D etails,besonders a ugenfällig
d ie F lügel
Malereifragmente
d er S chwäne,erlauben e s,die neuen
d erselben Werkstatt
Kandelaberwand mit
zuzuweisen w ie
d ie .
d er Weinernte.
Aufgrund d es Unterschiedes
d er Büsten,des 101
D ionysos
and d er
Abb.
5 .13
S chwan
Vogel Abb.
F O:
5 .14.
Köln,Gertrudenstraße
Mänade
Abb.
5 .15.
1 98o
Grabung U . Meier-Arendt und J .Deckers.
A bb.
5 .16.
V ogel
A bb.
5 .17.
S chwäne
Abb.
5 .18.
O scilla
D etails
a us Kandelaberstreifen,FO:
Köln,Gertrudenstraße
Mänade
e inerseits und d er G orgo
andererseits
s tellt
s ich
d ie
Frage,ob bei
Dionysos und
d er Mänade nicht Portraitzüge
mit
f estgehalten
s ind.Es wäre
an
d enken.Portraits wäre l erei.In
d ies nichts
ungewöhnliches
anderen Bereichen
s ich in
s tellungen
d er
aus
Besitzer
treffen wir auf Wänden
kophagreliefs und bei häufen
d ie
d en
in
zu
öfter
d er r ömischen Ma= d en Sar=
f igürlichen Bronzebeschlägen
d em d ionysischen d ie
in Pompeji
d er römischen Kunst,bei
zweiten Hälfte
Zeit P ortraitclipei
d es Hauses
d es
2 .Jh.n.Chr.die
B ereich, während z u
Inschriftclipei
Dar=
g leicher
auf d en Sarkophagen
verdrängen. Zwei
d er Kandelaberstreifen konnten fast vollständig
sammengefügt werden.Es motive
bauen
s ich b ei
systematisch auf.Zuunterst
Oscilla
, kleine
Abwehr d es nen in
runde
B ösen
d em Fries
laberwand mit
oder ovale
ihnen
d ie Kandelaber=
s itzen auf
d en S chirmchen
b emalte Täfelchen,die
aufgehängt wurden.Ähnliche Gebilde e iner Wand aus
z u=
zur
erschei=
d em Nachbarraum d er Kande=
d en großen r oten Feldern.Über d en O scilla
f olgen Schwäne.Sie
s ind nach außen g ewandt und
s cheinen
gerade mit hochgestellten F lügeln anzukommen. Dieses M otiv i st
aus
d er
s ogenannten G lobuswand in Vienne
d em S chirmchen über d en Schwänen konnte Vogel
angepaßt werden.Die
weils
a ls
Pendants
Kandelabermotive
zarten F lügeln
d er S chwäne
durchsichtigen Malerei
s ich
s ind in
d erselben d en
d er großen Kande=
kennen.Pinselführung und Farbgebung
Lichter Und S chatten lassen
s ich
e benso
d er
vergleichen,sodaß
wir d ie Arbeit unserer Kölner Malerwerkstatt
j etzt noch
besser umreißen können.Große
r ote
Streifen und g etrennt
s chwarze Kandelaberfelder
durch
j e=
v ier Kandelaber=
ausgeführt, die wir v on
d er Putten,Schwäne und Sphingen
laberwand bereits
s tehen
erhaltenen Kandela=
berbekrönungen k önnen wir mit mindestens F lügel
Auf
1 7)
e in kleiner bunter
g egenüber. Anhand d er
s treifen rechnen.Die
bekannt.
F elder,gefaßt
v on grünen
kennen wir aus
d em Nachbarraum unserer Wand v on
p latte und v on
d er Wand aus Köln-Müngersdorf.Dieser D ekor
in
s einer Vielfalt und d ifferenzierten
s ich
ikonographisch
und an
d ie
an
d ie Malereien
Farbigkeit
s chließt
in Vienne,Augsburg
Trierer Kandelaberdekoration
1 04
d er D om=
aus
d en Kaiser=
thermen mit
d en Reiherdarstellungen
an und auch im Tempel obgleich
früher
I I
in E lst
d er grüne
Streifen
ment a uf
fand
s ich in
große
mente
r ote
d en verschiedenen
d er Trierer Wand. Auch auf f inden wir e ine
f eine
trifft man,
G liederungssystem.Auf
d er Rahmen bereichert,indem
e twas nach innen
Punkt-und Strichzier das
d en S ockelfeldern
( Niederlande)
entstanden,dasselbe
d er Xantener Kentaurenwand i st
in
g esetzt
i st und e ine
F eld umgibt. Dieses g elben B orten
s chon
e inigen unserer Putzfrag=
l ineare
g elbe Umrandung
auf
r otem Grund, verbunden mit
g eometrischer E inteilung,die
möglicherwei _se vom S ockel
s tammt.
Vergleichbares
f indet
s ich indessen nicht nur i m
unserer Malerwerkstatt. Große Ähnlichkeit weisen Rankenstreifen
aus Xanten und aus
halb,weil
s ie
l oo
auseinander
Jahre
d och nach
E le=
E lst
B ereich z .B.zwei
auf,erstaunlich
d er örtlichen Datierung
d es=
rund 8 o
-
l iegen.Zeitgleich und gut vergleich=
bar
s ind d ie Kentaurin aus Echzell und d er Kentaur aus 1 Xanten ,8) fast wie nach e iner S chablone g earbeitet wirken d ie
S chwäne
Wir
erklären
halb
aus Vienne und d iejenigen v on unseren Neufunden. d ies mit
e iner a llgemeinen Motivkenntnis
größerer Werkstätten. Man wußte was
war und man war
inner=
g efragt und in Mode
informiert,denn Handwerker
s ind
w ohl
auch
g ewandert. D ie Wände
aus Köln-Müngersdorf,die
B onner Amazonenwand
und
d ie Kentaurenwand aus Xanten e ntstanden um d ie Mitte
d es
2 .Jh.n.Chr.Eine Wand mit Kandelaberstreifen aus
B onner Legionslager,die wird,gehört s cheinlich
dagegen in
d en
in
von
e iner h ockenden Sphinx bekrönt
e ine
s pätere Entstehungsphase, wahr=
B eginn
d es
3 .Jh.n.Chr. aufgrund
nerisch-graphischen Wiedergabe, d.h.es
l iegt
s erem augenblicklichen Kenntnisstand e ines B eispiele
f ünf b emalte Putzschichten
dritte Renovierung ration mit
erlaubte
d er jüngsten
Unser Überblick kann nicht Wandmalereien
d iesen Frag=
f estgestellt. Die
e ine Rekonstruktion d er Deko=
g elben Mittelfeldern und r oten
weitereRenovierungsphasen
d er zeich=
damit nach un=
für d ie Kandelaberdekoration vor.An
menten wurden
d em
f olgten
Streifen.Zwei
daher.
d en v ollständigen Katalog
d er
d er nördlichen Provinzen erbringen.Es wäre
1 05
indessen e inseitig,
b erücksichtigten wir a llein Malereien
mit Kandelaberdekor.Es z ügliche
g ibt
in d en nördlichen Provinzen v or=
B eispiele v on Wänden mit F igurenmalerei
t elfeldern i n malerei. Die
d irektem Anschluß
frühesten und d ie
a n
i n d en M it=
d ie p ompejanische Wand=
q ualitätvollsten haben s ich auf
d em Magdalensberg in Kärnten,in Noricum erhalten.Die F iguren s ind künstlerisch individuell
g estaltet.Dionysos,Iphigenie
und Tänzerinnen e rscheinen a uf l euchtend r otem Grund.H. Kenner g elangt N icht
z u e iner Datierung um 1 5 v .Chr.
ganz
d er Raub
d en g leichen Rang
erreichen Malereien a us Trier:
d es G oldenen Vließes und e in S tieropfer v on d er
" Grünen Wand"
g ehören
t ekturmalerei
i st
( stark
1 9)
d er 1 . Hälfte
in d er P ortikus
ergänzt).Aus
l iche Wandmalerei
d es
2 .Jh.n.Chr.an.Archi=
e ines Landhauses v ertreten
d em L imeskastell E chzell
d es
s tammt
2 o)
f igür=
2 .Jh.n.Chr.,späthadrianisch/frühantoni=
nisch a ufgrund d es Grabungsergebnisses.In e ine Wand,deren M ittelzone
d urch Säulen architektonisch
e in größeres M ittelbild und zwei
g egliedert
i st,sind
S eitenbilder e ingesetzt.Die
k leineren S eitenbilder werden v on Pelten g erahmt. Mythologische S zenen
d es kretischen Sagenkreises:
Daedalos und Ikaros
b ilden
Theseus und M inotauros,
d ie Pendants
d er S eitenfelder,
d eren B ildgrund verschiedene Marmorsorten imitiert.Fortuna und Herkules s ich
s tehen
s ich im Mittelfeld g egenüber.Sie r eichen
d ie Hand,Fortuna hält
bekränzt und mit
Füllhorn.Beide G ötter s ind
i hren Attributen ausgestattet,
Rad und Füllhorn,
F ortuna mit
Herkules mit Keule,Bogen und F ell
meischen Löwen.Fortuna i st k leidet,über er
das
in d en langen v ioletten Chiton g e=
S chulter und um d ie Hüfte
g elb-grüner Mantel,
s ie
s tützt
d ie L inke
Wir e rhalten h ier a n d er R eichsgrenze ken Z usammenhang mit
d es ne=
liegt
e in l eichter
a uf e in S zepter.
d en B eleg
f ür d en
s tar=
d er i talischen Tradition.Der g ebildete
Römer l iebte Themen d er griechischen Mythologie.Daß man d ie Wohnräume
auch mit
d en L ieblingsgöttern s chmückt,ließ
s chon an d er Kölner Wand z eigen.Die Funde Echzell
s tehen n icht
im Auxiliarkastell
a llein a m L imes.In d en a lten Fundberich=
t en f indet
s ich manches
d ie neuere
Grabungstechnik
Fragmente
s ich
S tück Wandmalerei ermöglichte
e iner Wand z u b ergen,daß
s truiert werden k onnte.
21)
1 06
e s
verzeichnet.Erst indessen,soviele
e ine Wandfläche
r ekon=
A bb.
5 .19.
K opf des Tigers
Abb.
5 .21. Rankenfries
Abb.
5 .20.
Kopf
d es
Panthers
Um d ie Entwicklung Raumes
d er r ömischen Wandmalerei
d es Kölner
a bzurunden,stelle
i ch weitere Fragmente unserer Gra= 1 969 d er D omflächei vor. Fundort i st d er s chon b ekannte
bungen v on
Raum unserer r oten Kandelaberwand.Die Fragmente
g ehörten
wahrscheinlich e inem s päter e ingezogenen Mauerzug a n.Die Lückenhaftigkeit k onstruktion
d es Materials
r ömischer Z eit d ie
i st
in
j etzt
zuzuordnen
d en Provinzen n och
d es
D eckenmalerei
4 .Jh.n.Chr. die
a us
s eltener e rhalten ,
d er d rei Wandmalerei=
e in Rankenfries mit
e iner Türlaibung g ewonnen werden,ein Wand=
e inem s pringenden Panther und e in F eld mit e iner .
großen Jagdszene.Der Fries mit z em Grund muß
s enkrecht
grünem B lattwerk auf s chwar=
g edacht werden,die
B lattranken
weisen nach oben. Die Abschrägung in R ot g ibt Kontrast
zu Grün und S chwarz.Der Fries
e inen g uten
e ndete
merecke.Von ihrer B iegung g eben e inige wenige Z eugnis. Die Höhe k onnte n icht Kante
d es Wandteiles mit
g leichartig
d em s pringenden
abgeschrägt und in R ot
B lätter d es H intergrundes
zum S prung
a n,streckt
Gartenlandschaft mit Von
w ie
d er s ehr ähn=
e iner Wandfläche
s ehr gut
im Profil,
d ieser S prunghaltung,
B eschauer zugewandt
d em Fries
a n.
g etroffen.Er s etzt
d ie V orderpfoten weit • yor
e ingeklemmt, der Kopf nicht in
i st
l inke
d er Fries.
B egrenzung.Einige
s ind d enen aus
d es Panthers
S tellen noch
Panther i st
g efaßt w ie
l ich.Wahrscheinlich g ehörten b eide T eile Das katzenartige
an e iner Z im =
ermittelt werden. Die
Auch h ier f ehlen obere und untere
wäre
und d er
d en Bruchstücken,die
d er Mauer hafteten,konnte
d er Abschrägung f eld mit
d em Trierer Kaiser=
größerer Zusammenhänge
s chlechten Erhaltung.Aus
n icht mehr a n
dafür s teht
langwierige und s chwierige Arbeit,be=
s onders wegen d es F ehlens t eilweise
s pät=
d ie H ofkunst r epräsentiert.
D ie Rekonstruktion und Konservierung f ragmente war e ine
d ie Re=
s ehen wer=
s ind.Wandmalerei
d er mittleren Kaiserzeit.Beispielhaft
d ie k onstantinische palast
erst
d ieser B ruchstücke,die,wie wir n och
d en, s pätrömischer Z eit
a ls
e rlaubte
ed er
S chwanz
d ies natürlicher
s ondern i n V orderansicht
d em
g egeben.Der H intergrund b esteht a us
e iner
B lattwerk und G emäuer.
d er dramatischen Jagdszene k onnten w ir d as Pferd,den
g efallenen Reiter und d en a ufspringenden T iger r ekonstruie= r en,trotz
a ller Lückenhaftigkeit 1 08
i st
d es Erhaltenen.In
d er
r echten oberen E cke
z eigt
Z immerecke
s ich
a n,sodaß
wickelte.Rechts
a lso
F ell.Er s pringt
auf d as
b eißen.Das Pferd hat
d ie B iegung d ie
s eine Lanze
d er mächtige T iger mit
s ich mit tung
s cheuende Pferd a uf,um s ich f estzu=
e s
d ie Vor=
a bgeworfen,doch hat
das w ilde T ier g erichtet.Er
d ieser
s tützt
d er L inken h inten a b,um i n d er unglücklichen Hal=
e twas
S icherheit
B odenlinie
B 2 ,42 m ,
z u g ewinnen.Dunkleres
an.Höhe und Breite
kannt,die Maße
d es
d er Wand
Erhaltenen
T eile v on zwei
s chließen w ir a us
Grün g ibt
d ie
s ind uns nicht b e
b etragen:
Panther H 1 ,54 x B 1 ,39,
Wir haben wohl Das
e nt=
s einem g estreiften
d en Kopf zur Abwehr zwischen
auf
d ie
S zene v on r echts nach l inks
d erhand g esenkt. Den R eiter hat s chon
a n e inem Fragment
Jagdszene H 1 ,64 x
Ranke H 2 ,00 m x 3 1
cm.
v erschiedenen Wänden v or uns.
d en unterschiedlichen Proportionen
d er T iere,des Panthers und d er Jagdszene. Der Türfries und d ie Pantherwand g ehören zusammen,eire Raumes war mit
d er Jagdszene
D er Maler b eherrschte
a ndere
S eite
d es
ausgemalt.
s ein Metier. Das
b ezeugen
d ie
s icher
g esetzten L inien,die
f lotten P inselstriche.Die Malerei
i ndessen f lächig und
t eilweise
d ominiert
das
i st
grob i n d er Ausführung.Es
Z eichnerische. Die
S chatten wirken hart,Details
d er G ewand-oder F ellwiedergabe monoton.Die T ierdarstellung g elang b esser a ls
d ie menschliche
auch
f ügt
d em Z eitstil
in
F igur,die
d en wenig
s ich
a llerdings
d ifferenzierten F ormen
d er Arme und B eine. Aus h en
d em großen Repertoire v on Jagd-und G ladiatorenszenen s te= unserer Malerei
t orenpalast
i n R om
2 2)
zwei Marmorintarsien aus und d ie M osaiken a us
Villa v on P iazza Armerina,Sizilien Marmorintarsien d es Junius D ie Haltung ähnlich
( Opus
s ectile)
d er r ömischen
am nächsten.Die
2 3)
s tammen a us
d er Basilika
Bassus, der 3 31 n .Chr.das K onsulamt d er r eißenden T iger d ort
. Der Kopf unseres T igers
d em Konserva-
inne hatte.
i st unserer S zene
i st nur
s ehr
s ehr f ragmentarisch
erhalten,er war wahrscheinlich i n Dreiviertelansicht w ieder= g egeben. Die s tanden
s tadtrömische Arbeit w ird um 3 31
s ein.Die Jagdszenen aus P iazza Armerina z eigen
v ieles Verwandte. in
n .Chr.ent=
In
d er Eberjagdszene
i st
e iner d er J äger
s itzender . Haltung m it nach h inten a bgestütztem Arm w ie=
d ergegeben.Aufspringende wilde T iere k ommen mehrmals v or s 109
0
1 0
W
30 c m
Fig.5.1.
Jagdszene mit F O:
s cheuendem Pferd und a ufspringendem T iger.
Köln,Dom,Südseite,Grabung G .Precht
1 969.
M ca.1:15
Fig.5.2.
Panther,
FO:
Köln,Dom,Südseite 1 10
1 969.
M ca.1:15
hervorzuheben
s ind besonders
Ochsengespannes und
d es
d ie
Jägers mit
großen Korridor. Die Musterung Jäger begegnet bei
S zenen
Teilnehmern
d es
im Hintergrund d es
d em r oten Schild aus Gewandes wie
und
s tilistischer B efunde
Jahrzehnten
d es
e ine Entstehungszeit
4. Jh. n.Chr.angenommen werden.
zu
s ein. Damit
4 .Jh.n.Chr. anzusetzen
e ine
s pätrömische Malereiphase
s ich
s icherlich
aus
g eworden, dort
n .Chr.durch auf
entfaltete. Die
damals
s ich wohl
e in=
in Köln
auch Kölner
erhielt
e ine Vorrangstellung.
damals wieder neu entfalten.
kurz
zusammen:
In Niedergermanien verzeichnen wir r ömische Wandmalerei. Aus Fragmente
d em Tempel
Kandelaberstreifen aus
s eit
c laudischer Z eit
I in E lst
d er unteren Wandpartien
darüberliegenden Tempel
I I
kennen wir
s ind
j edoch
erhalten. Aus
d ie
frühesten mit
d ekorierten Wände wahrscheinlich
frühfla=
d ieser Provinz.Noch aus neronischer Z eit
s tammen Malereien mit unseren Dekorationselementen aus Palaestrabereich Belgica. Den wir
d ie
auch
d er v orangegangenen langen Tradition,konnte
Fassen wir noch e inmal
vischer Z eit
in
2 5)
d em gallischen S onderkaisertum
d en Deutzer Brückenkopf
d ie Malerei
nur wenige
oder
fassen wir
d en Alamannenstürmen wieder aufgeblüht und
B egründet
d em
daher um 3 00
d ie Wandmalerei
orientierten
Werkstätten.Köln war unter
s ich
Ent=
kaiserliche Residenzstadt war zum Mittelpunkt
d er Künste
3 10
D ie
d em konstantinischen Kaiserpalast
Trier bezeugt, welch hohen Rang
nach
d en ersten
bürgerlichem Milieu, die
angeregt von d er Hofkunst
höfische Malerei
nahm. Die
aus
i n 2 4)
dürfte
d es
in d er Pa=
s tratigraphischer
s tehung unserer Jagd-und Tierszenen B eginn
bei unserem
d es Wagenrennens
laestra. Für d iese Mosaiken kann aufgrund
d em
d er Trierer Kaiserthermen in
B ogen v on Süden nach Norden
Daten:
um 1 5 v .Chr.
d em
d er Gallia
g espannt,erhalten
- Magdalensberg
-/ B eginn
d es
1 .Jh.n.Chr.- Vienne,St.Peters-Platz, Malerei mit Reihern im S ockel
,3./4.Jahrzehnt n .Chr.- Commugny
Kempten ,Beginn f olgen aus
d ie
d es
2 .Jh.n.Chr.
um 5 o n .Chr.
- Vienne,Globuswand ,es
zahlreichen Funde unserer Kandelaberdekoration
hadrianisch-antoninischer Z eit
Raume Köln,Bonn und Xanten f ortsetzen.Die
d ie
s ich b is
D ekorationsmotive 1 11
aus Augsburg und aus in
das
d em
3 .Jh.n.Chr.
d er provinziellen Kande=
l abermalerei i n Systemen
- Ranken,Schwäne, Masken,Bordüren - f inden d es
3 .und d es beginnenden 4 .Stils
s ich
i n P ompeji
v orgeformt,d.h.,sie waren a llgemein i n d er r ömischen Malerei verbreitet. Medaillons mit i n
G orgo,Silen und Satyr trafen w ir
e inem d er kleinen F lügel
Wasserpflanzen
d es Atriums
im Vettierhause
a n.
s ind i n S ockelfeldern v erbreitet.Reiher und
Wasserpflanzen,nunmehr s tark v erblaßt,schmücken d en S ockel d er P ortikus D ies möchte
d es P eristylhofes e in H inweis
im Hause Menanders,Pompeji.
d arauf
s ein,die
m it Kandelaberdekoration nicht s ei
z u b etrachten,sie
tradition g emäß
a llzu
i st v ielmehr
d er r ömischen Malerei
f ür d ie Malereifunde mit
und E chzell
provinzielle Malerei
s eparat,nur a ls Anhäng=
e ingebunden i n d ie
z u s ehen.Dasselbe
und w ie w ir s ahen,für d ie
D ie
d er Kölner Jagdszene Trierer Malereien aus
aus
Themen
ß ere
T eil
d er s pätrömi= d er R ekonstruk=
e inem B ürgerhause
damit
d er H ofkunst j ener
abfinden müssen,daß
r ömischer Wandmalerei n icht
malerei
d er Vielfalt und i n
d er grö=
erhalten i st,so
e ine b eachtliche Anzahl v on Fragmenten,die uns lung v on
e rfassen.
d em konstantinischen Kaiserpalast
g eben Z eugnis v on d er h ohen Qualität Epoche.Auch wenn wir uns
g ilt natur=
f igürlichen S zenen a us Trier
s chen Malereiphase um 3 oo n .Chr.,die w ir mit t ion
G esamt=
b leibt
e ine V orstel=
d em Reichtum d er r ömischen Wand=
d en nördlichen Provinzen v ermitteln.
T echnologie und K onservierung D ie
r ömischen Wandmalereien waren i n k ombinierter Fresco-
S eccotechnik ausgeführt worden. Das s enschaftlichen Untersuchungen, laberwände mit
2 6)
b estätigen a uch f ür
d ie naturwis=
d ie K ölner Kande=
d en großen r oten F eldern.E.Denninger,Institut
f ür T echnologie r oten Malschicht
d er Malerei,Stuttgart,gelang
e s,an Proben d ei
e ine G lutaminsäurereaktion nachzuweisen.
D iese Aminosäure k ommt
in t ierischen Leimen v or.Die Konzen=
tration d er Leimlösung
s oll nach Versuchen D enningers
n icht überschreiten,damit
z u h ohe
v ermieden wird.Leim g eht mit mörtels
e ine
s ehr f este
S pannung
d er Malschicht
d em Calciumhydroxyd d es Kalk=
B indung
e in.Als
B indemittel wäre
auch Kalkkasein z u erwarten. Kalkkasein wurde chromatographischen B indemittelanalyse d er Echzeller Malereien
f estgestellt. 1 12
2%
2 7)
anhand e iner
z . B.inFarbschichten B ei
d en r ömischen
Wänden v on Hölstein, Münsingen und Trier vermutet man Leim= z usatz
z u d en Farben,bei
d enjenigen v on Augsburg und Kempten
d agegen Frescotechnik.Die Wände
i n
d en gallorömischen Tem=
p eln v on E lst k önnen,wie J .E.A.Bogaers v orschlägt,in Kalk malerei
ausgeführt
s ein,die
k leinteiligen Ornamente t en
f inden
großen F lächen a l
fresco,die
in Kalksecco.In Farb -und S tuckschich=
s ich g eringe organische
S puren,besonders
und R ot,aber a uch i n anderen Farblagen.
in S chwarz
S chon früher mach=
2 8)
t e man d iesbezügliche B eobachtungen an d en Wandmalereifunden v on Köln-Müngersdorf und d ie c hungen
d es
I stituto
f ür Fragmente B indemittel
laufenden chemischen Untersu=
C entrale
d el
Restauro
a us R om e in ähnliches Ergebnis.
s ind c hemisch nur
d er Malerei
oder Infiltrationen a us
s icher a uf
t ech=
d er umgebenden Erdschicht können
v on organischen S puren wäre s ich
d ie
s chließen,denn Verunreinigungen
d ie Untersuchungsergebnisse beeinträchtigen.
daß
Organische
S puren a n Bruchstücken,
im B oden lagerten,lassen noch n icht
nische Ausführung
2 9)
s ehr s chwer f eststellbar an
d iesen Objekten und g eringe organische d ie
i n R om erbringen
auch häufig
Das F ehlen
3 °)
damit
z u erklären,
s olche R este verflüchtigt haben.Zu f ragen wäre
f erner,inwieweit
s ich d urch a nalytische Verfahren yb ei
s o
g eringen Spuren d er Unterschied zwischen t ierischem Leim und Kalkkasein
f eststellen läßt.Sinnvoll
i st
e s,zur K lärung
d er anstehenden Fragen naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen mit
praktisch-experimentellen F orschungsarbeiten
zu k oordi=
nieren. An
d en Kölner Fragmenten wurden Untersuchungen m it
e lektronenmikroskop
i n d er Kombination mit
M ikroanalyse v orgenommen.
3 1)
l o
Zwischenpräparierungen not=
s elbst w ird a bgebildet.Bis
0 00-facher Vergrößerung wird e ine
d ie bei
e nergiedispersiver
Für Untersuchungen am Raster=
e lektronenmikroskop werden keine wendig,das Originalmaterial
d em Raster=
S chärfentiefe
zu
e rreicht,
anderen Abbildungsverfahren n icht möglich i st.
Das Röntgenbeugungsdiagramm nach D ebye-Scherrer e rbrachte d ie
Identifizierung
d er Farbpigmente.Alle,
a lso Rot,Gelb,Grün,Blau,Weiß, a ls Kohlenstoff v or:
außer S chwarz,-
waren kristallin.Schwarz
Ruß oder ähnliches; Rot
lag
- r oter Ocker;
Grün - grüne Erde,Seladonit;Gelb - Ocker,Eisenhydroxyd ; Blau Agyptischblau,Kupfer-Calcium-Silikat;Weiß 1 13
- Calciumcarbonat.
Z innober war nicht verwendet w orden b ei Fragmenten,das waren i st
s parsam.Beide P igmente
s ehr t euer. Die r ote Malschicht
d er großen Panneaux
d urchsetzt v on Calcitkristallen,dem P igment wurde Mar=
mormehl in
B lau nur äußerst
d en untersuchten
beigemischt.Die
d er Größe
s treckte man
zwischen
z ugesetzten Marmorteilchen variieren
1 ,5 und 0 ,01
mm. Durch
d iesen Z usatz
d ie Malfarbe,die Malschicht wurde
a ußerdem
f ester und widerstandsfähiger.Gewiß t ragen d ie Marmorpar= t ikelchen auch
z u
d em G lanz b ei,der a n
d en p ompejanischen
Wandmalereiflächen b ewundert w ird,und d er a uch a n d en r oten F eldern nicht
d er K ölner Malerei
v orhanden i st. Der G lanz
d urch S chleifen d er F lächen m it
zu e rklären,wie P . Mora
3 3)
zuletzt W .Klinkert
fanden
f este Andrücken,bzw.Glätten
mit
S pachtel
Weiß,
d er n och
pd aß
f euchten Malschicht
s pielen
d ie Farbpigmente
d en
e ine w ichtige
Erdfarben wie Ocker,gebrannter Ocker,Grüne Erde, basieren auf T onen.Schon in v orrömischer Z eit hatte
man b ei
d er Keramikherstellung
entdeckt. Durch
das
Wasserverdunstung verdichten
d ie
d ie W irkung
d er G lanztone
f este Andrücken d er Oberfläche und d ie g elangen f einste Partikelchen nach a ußen,
S chicht und b ewirken d en G lanz.In
g eschichteten Anordnung S chichtdoppelbrechung
d er T onminerale
extrem d ünn,nur 5 -10 um, G leitmittel,z.B.
R ot
d er parallel
s ich e ine Fries
dagegen 2 oo-5oo tm.
Kaolin,das
auch d er
f ehlen.Wenn
d as
s chicht
kann b ei
d er d ünnen
s chwarzen Rußfarbe im S chwarz
S pektrum b ei
Farbschicht
darunter miterfaßt w orden
s chaftliche Nachweis f undenen Erklärung Wandmalereien l iegt
i n
d er R önt=
und daher auch
a ne
F einputz=
d er v on M ora g e=
d er Malschicht
d em f eststellbaren Anteil
l icium und A luminium,der i n T onen s ilikat)
d ie
d ie
s ein. Der naturwissen=
f ür d ie R ichtigkeit
f ür d en G lanz
i st
Man hätte
g enmikroanalyse Calcium und S ilicium auch im S chwarz z eigte,so
d er
s chwarze Malschicht
G lanz verlieh, vorher zugeben müssen,weil t onigen B estandteile
g ibt
zu e rkennen. Der s chwarze
Kölner Malereien g länzte nicht. Die
das
3 2) vertrat.L.und
oder Kelle unter g ewissen Voraussetzungen
ergibt.Dabei
R olle:
f einem Marmorstaub
durch experimentelle Versuche heraus
das
G lanz
i st j edoch
r ömischer v on S i=
( wasserhaltiges A luminium=
in Erdfarben e nthalten i st.Anteile
v on S ilicium und A luminium k onnten i n Malereien v on P ompeji, 1 14
v on Kasanlak
( Bulgarien), von Münsing und Hölstein
und v on Köln nachgewiesen werden.In
( Schweiz)
d en Kölner Malereien
in d en r oten und grünen Malschichten.Im Ocker fand s ich Kaolinit,Calcit,Quarz und T onminerale. B ei a n
d er Herstellung
d es Putzes h ielt man
s ich i n K öln n icht
d ie Weisungen V itruvs,sechs Putzschichten aufzutragen.
Höchstens
d rei,oft nur zwei
bar.Sehr grobe
Zuschläge
Putzschichten
l iegen manchmal
s ind f eststell= b is
d icht unter
d er Malschicht. Marmormehl war i n Köln g elegentlich
f ür
L ie
oberste F einputzschicht v erwandt worden,sonst Rheinsand und Kalk.Eine Wand aus
d em Nachbarraum d er Malerei m it
r oten P anneaux wies
d er M itte
i n
r ötlichen S treifen aus
d er Mörtelschicht
Z iegelmehl
auf.Durch
s chlag wird d er M örtel noch haltbarer,weil
d en
d en
e inen
Z iegelzu=
d as Wasser lang
samer verdunstet,der Mörtel
daher b esser d urchcarbonati=
s iert.Erwähnenswert
S truktur d er Rückseite.Der Putz
war a uf
d ie
e ine Lehmschicht
r en Haftung D ie
i st
aufgetragen worden,die
z ur b esse=
d es Mörtels mit R iefen versehen w orden war.
in unterschiedlicher Größe und Höhe
erhaltenen Bruch=
s tücke wurden nach Grabungskisten auf T ischen ausgebreitet und zusammengesetzt,was langwierig
Fragmente
Ebene
äußerst
s tellten
s ich
ne Putzstärke
d ie
in unterschiedlichen Höhen erhalte=
g leichmäßig
r eichende
F estigkeit
nalstücke
zu erhalten,
rungsmaßnahmen
auf a cht mm abzuarbeiten,
zu e rzielen,
zu b eachten,
s en. Der
war
g ewaltsam trennen z u müs=
brüchig,daß man
s ich v or B eginn d er
K onservierungsarbeiten z ur F estigung m it 3 4)
e ntschloß.Jetzt
t erkrusten,die
d ie Malerei
f est mit
d em Härtefluat
e rst war e s möglich,die S in=
a n v ielen S tellen b edeckten
und d ie
s ich
mittels
e ines Korundscheibchens
d er Malschicht verbunden hatten,
m lange Wand t eilten wir i n
a bzuschleifen.Die
s echs
F elder. Für d ie
nung wählten wir d ie S tellen aus,die d enen Brüche
d er Restaurie=
transportable Tableaux z u e r=
d ie Originalstücke s o
aus=
d as Aussehen d er Origi=
d ie Reversibilität
s tellen ohne ? utz
f ür d ie Konservierung:
auf e iner Länge v on a cht b zw. vier m i n e ine
z u bekommen,
Laosin B
z eitaufwendig und
erwies.
F olgende Probleme D ie
s ich a ls
s ich
durch
ca.acht Fugentren=
d ie v orhan=
dafür a nboten.Anhand e iner Rekonstruktions= 1 15
z eichnung, die wir vorher von s tücken
d en
angefertigt hatten, verlegten wir
dafür bereitgestellte Kästen mit kulith-Kaminisolierung. viel
leichter a ls
3 5)
Sand zu
e in Streifen
s echs Kästen mit
e s
brachten wir
Malerei e twas D ie
d er Anpassungen
d ie Fragmente
g elöst
d er Oberfläche
kerer Konsistenz vor.Nach s o
auf
Vorsichtshalber
d eckt man
äthylenfolie
d ie
Füllmaterial
Das
läßt
s ich
zwei
Farben
d em Trocknen
in s tär=
d er Stoffüberklebung d ie Kästen mit D eckeln
g edreht werden können.
d ie Malerei
noch mit
d er Kästen wurden
s chonend am besten mit
e iner P oly= außen
danach
d er Putz
drin=
e ntfernt,
abgeschliffen.
d em Ultraschall-Meißel
( KLM-Ultraschall-GmbH.,Weinheim/Bergstr.).Für d es
antiken Mörtels
verwendeten wir Primal AC
Ausgleichsmörtelschicht
aufgetragene
bestand aus
zu g leichen
Mörtelschicht klebten wir
drei
kann bei
l ' eilen.über e in
d er Rück=
4 mm
s tarke
Teilen Quarzsand,
d ie
aus Mowilith getrocknete
s tärkeres Armierungsgewebe.
Bedarf mit Nitroverdünnung
Restaurierung
v on
3 3,eine Acrylemulsion
Sumpfkalk und 1 0% e iner Mischung
und D o25
d ie
e her noch
d em A ltern.
d er g leichen Lösung
( Rohm & Haas,Philadelphia). Die
s odaß
d ie
d er
f einen und e inem groben
herausgenommen und
e in nochmaliges Närten
D ieses
B 7 2
in Lösung, die nur e inen
ab, damit nicht Klebstoffreste nach
das
e inem Teil
. Die F ixierung
b ildet,der das Aussehen
B ildseite
gen. Böden und Seitenwände
durchführen
d er Wasser=
in Nitroverdünnung.Para=
bruchsicher,daß
verschraubt und
D 5 0
e ine Ebene
intensiviert und d er l öslich b leibt nach
dreifache i lberklebung mit
s eite
d ie mit Mowilith 3 5/73
s törend verändert,sondern
d ie Malschicht
d ie Frag=
erfolgte mit Paraloid
Treviragewebe nahmen wir mit
I st
in
e ine Polyacrylverbindung
nicht
Drehen
danach aus.
( Degussa/hanau). Mit
d er Malschicht
matten Film auf
s pätere
in Nitroverdünnung gehärteten Bruch=
( Rohm & Haas,Philadelphia) b id i st
das
an.Wir überspannten a lle
s chien,klebten wir
s tellen mit Ago -Goldsiegel
und Festigung
daher
d en Vorteil
e iner Perlonschnur und r ichteten
erforderlich
in
zu machen. Als Richtlinie b ot
d es Randdekors
( Farbwerke Hoechst)
waage
Fragmente
e iner Füllung von Vermi=
s ein, und
mente unter Berücksichtigung Wo
d ie
D ieses Material hat
d er Kästen weniger aufwendig s ich
zusammengesetzten Bruch=
r eversibel 1 16
g elöst werden,
b leibt.Leichtbauplatten,
hergestellt
a us Wabenpapier
faser und Araldit ß end mit
( Ciba-Geigy AG,Basel)
d en Rückseiten
härten wurde
( Stempel AG,Dietzenbach),Glas=
d er Malerei
d ie montierte Malerei
wurden a bschlie=
verbunden.Nach d em Aus= g edreht und s odann
in
profilierte S tahlrahmen e ingehängt.Den nächsten Arbeitsgang b ildete
das
s orgfältige
Freilegen
N itroverdünnung g etränkt,wurde
d er B ildseite.Watte mit
auf d ie
S toffüberklebung
d er Malfläche verteilt
P olyäthylenfolie
a bgedeckt.Tags
S toffe mühelos und
ohne
z uvor gut
a ngelöste
u nd über Nacht mit
darauf k onnten wir d ie
Farbverluste
a bnehmen.
3 6)
Zum Aus=
f üllen d er F ehlstellen verwendeten w ir M owilithmörtel,dem wir in
d er unteren S chicht
s ondere
S orgfalt
e rforderte
grobe
Z uschläge b eimengter.Be=
e s,die
f einen Fugen zwischen
d en Originalstücken a uszuspachteln und d ie M örtelmasse mit d eren Kanten z u verbinden,
unschöne Übergänge hätten s onst
d en G esamteindruck b eeinträchtigt.Die Mörtelergänzung t e
2 mm niedriger a ls
r eichten wir,daß kraft
d ie
d ie B ildoberfläche Farbrekonstruktionen
d er antiken Originalfarben
l iegen. Dadurch er= d ie v olle Leucht=
e rhalten k önnen
‚ gleich=
z eitig aber d ie erhaltenen Fragmente g enügend g egen ergänzten Teile z ungen
s oll=
d ie
a bgesetzt b leiben. Das Ausmalen d er Ergän=
f ührten wir mit Farbsortimenten d er Amphibolin-Werke
( Robert Murjahn,Ober-Ramstadt)
aus,
d ie h ohe L ichtechtheit
garantieren.Die Originalfragmente wurden in i hrem Erhaltungs= z ustand belassen.Auf d iese Weise kann d em B eschauer d ie e hemalige Farbwirkung
s ehr gut v or Augen g eführt werden.
D ie
s oll wegen
Jagdszene
d agegen
F ehlstellen a ls S trichzeichnung a ngepaßten Farbton s ollen in
d er großen Lücken und auf
e inem d en Fragmenten
e rgänzt werden,nur d ie äußeren K onturen
d iesem Falle
d ie
f ehlenden Partien d er S zene
wiedergeben.
1 17
Anmerkungen 1 )
Vgl.R.Schindler,Führer d urch Trier
das Landesmuseum Trier,
1 98o,98 Abb.314.
2 )
Vgl.A.Linfert,Kölner Jb.13,1972/73,65-76. Grabung 1 969 RGM.
3 )
Th. Kraus,Lebendiges P ompeji,Köln 1 977,Taf.11o,- großer Gartensaal
4 )
im Haus
d er Vettier.
D ers.,Lebendiges P ompeji,Köln
1 977,Taf.293, Villa d ei
M isteri,Raum 1 5 und im f olgenden Taf.297,Gartenland= s chaft 5 )
K öln:
a us
d er casa d el
f rutteto.
J .Klinkenberg und K .Würth i n F .Fremersdorf,Der r ö=
mische
Gutshof Köln-Müngersdorf,Berlin und Leipzig
5 5-64; Neumarkt: D omplatte:
F .Fremersdorf,Germania 1 4,193o,1o6
1 933, f .;
0 .Doppelfeld,Kölner J b.6,1 961,159 und d ers.
Wallraf R ichartz Jb.18,1956,17
f f.; Bonn:
H .G. Horn,Das
Rheinische Landesmuseum B onn,2,1973,19-22,Kandelaber m it Sphinx; Ders.,Das Rheinische Landesmuseum B onn,6,1971, 8 5-88; Xanten:
E . Künzl,Das Rheinische Landesmuseum B onn,
3 ,1969,38
H .G. Horn,Das Rheinische Landesmuseum B onn,
f .;
5 ,1971,68-72.
6 ) W.Drack,Die römische Wandmalerei d er S chweiz,Basel 1 95o, Taf.1-6, 7 )
S .14,26,68
ff.
K .Parlasca,in W .Krämer,Cambodunumforschungen 1 953-I,Kall= münz
1 957,93-1o2,Taf.3o-33.
8 )
D ers.,Römische Wandmalerei
9 )
W .Reusch,Trierer Z eitschrift
l o)
i n Augsburg,Kallmünz
1 956.
2 9,1966,187-216,Taf.A.
I . Huld-Zetsche,Nassauische Annalen 9 o,1979,5-38,bes.S.21, Abb.5 und 6 .
1 1)
M .Borda,La P ittura r omana, Mailand 1 958,S.94 Abb.S.93, Vienne,Globuswand ; A.Barbet,in P einture murale Actes
d es S6minaires
e n Gaule,
1 979,Dijon 1 98o,36,römische Wand=
malereifunde,Place S t.Pierre,Vienne. 1 2)
E .A.Th.Bogaers,De
gallo-romeinse T empels
Over-Betuve,SiGravenhage
t e Elst
1 955,1o4-124.
1 3)
0 .Doppelfeld, wie
1 4)
A .Linfert,Römische Wandmalerei,Köln 1 975,Abb.36.
1 5)
Z .B.Gorgonenhaupt,Silen-und Satyrköpfe e inem F lügel
i n d e
in Anm.5.
d es Atriums
Büsten in e inem Fries
i n Medaillons
im Vettierhaus,
i n
P ortraits und
über Muschelbaldachinen im Lararium
d er casa d ell'Ara massima
( Ins.15,Nr.16.) 1 18
1 6) H .G. Horn,Das Rheinische Landesmuseum B onn,5,1971,71. 1 7)
M .Borda,wie Anm.11.
1 8)
H .G. Horn,wie Anm.16, D.Baatz,Germania 4 6,1968,Taf.9.
1 9)
H .Kenner,in D ie Ausgrabungen auf 1 969-1972,Klagenfurt
d em Magdalensberg,
1 973,2o9-281.
2 o)
D .Baatz,Germania 4 6,I968,4o-52.
2 1)
Ders.,Germania 4 6,1968,5o.
2 2)
W .Zschietzschmann,Römische Kunst,Frankfurt
2 3)
G .V.Gentili,La v illa r omana d i P iazza Armerina,Milano,
1 968,Taf.173.
R oma 1 959. 2 4)
K . M.D.Dunbabin,The mosaics Oxford
1 978,176
of R oman North Africa,
f f.
2 5)
Trier,Diözesanmuseum.
2 6)
W .Noll,L.Born und R . Holm,Kölner Jb.13,1972/73,77
2 7)
D .Baatz,wie Anm.2o,besonders
4 3 und Anm.13 und 1 4.
Untersychungen E .Denningers,Institut d er Malerei
f f.
a n d er S taatl.Akademie
f ür T echnologie
d er B ildenden Künste,
S tuttgart. 2 8)
Hölstein und Münsingen: Urgesch.53,1966/67,79 s chrift
2 9,1966,222
1 ,1968,Gr.7,1
f f,Trier:
f f;
R .Wihr,Trierer Z eit=
d ers.Arbeitsbl.f.Restauratoren
f f; Augsburg und Kempten:
w icklung und Werkstoffe b is
R .Giovanoli,Jahrb.Schweiz.Ges.
d er Wandmalerei
zur Neuzeit,München 1 926,3o1-3o8;
B ogaers,De gallo-romeinse Tempels B etuve,S
1G ravenhage
l e 2 9)
E lst: i n
E .A.Th. d e Over-
1 955,1o4-124.Die Untersuchungen d es Musees
d e
1 953 und S .Liberti,Instituto C entra=
d el Restauro,Rom d urch.
Köln-Müngersdorf:J.Klinkenberg und K .Würth w ie R om: Vgl.Boll.dell'Istituto Centrale 1 9/20,1955,14 37;29/30,1957,37-4o;
3 0)
v om A ltertum
t e E lst
f ührten S .Sneyers,Laboratoire Central B elgique,Bruxelles
A .Eibner,Ent=
F . Müller-Skjold,
über d ie Technik
i n Anm.5;
d el R estauro pR om,
1 967,7 ff. d er antiken Wand=
malereien und M osaiken,Ber. VI.Int.Kongreß
f .Archäologie,
B erlin 1 939,157-161,bes.16o; ders.Eine R eihenuntersu= chung
an antiken i talischen Marmorstucken,Arch.Anz.
6 5/66,1950/51,Sp.132-14o. 3 1)
Wie Anm.26.
1 19
3 2) W .Klinkert,Bemerkungen zur T echnik d er p ompeianischen Wanddekoration,Röm.Mitt.64,1957 3 3)
0 .11-148.
L .u.P.Mora,P.Phillipot,La C onservation d es P eintures murales,Bologna 1 977,bes.11 6 /1 1 7 u .Anm.55; P .Mora,Boll.dell'Istituto C entrale
v gl.auch
d el R estauro,Rom
1 967,63-84. 3 4)
Salze und Z ubereitungen d er Kieselfluorwasserstoffsäure. D ie
d urch Laosin B m it Kalk oder Z ement g ebildeten Kalk-
F luor-Verbindungen s ind wasserunlöslich.Inzwischen haben s ich z ur Verkieselung v on a rchäologischen Objekten T egovakon
( Goldschmitt,Düsseldorf)
oder Funkosil
( Wacker,
München)besser bewährt. 3 5)
M ineral ; Verwitterungsprodukt v erschiedener G limmerarten; grüne oder g oldbraune,metallisierende,schuppige und großblättrige Aggregate ‚ monoklin.
3 6)
D ie g esundheitsschädigende Wirkung
d es L ösemittels b e=
d ingt,daß d iese Arbeiten im Freien ausgeführt werden müssen,wenn k eine ausreichenden Absauganlagen und Luft= z ufuhr i n d en Arbeitsräumen v orhanden s ind.
1 20
6 .
WALL PLASTER FROM THE YORK M INSTER E XCAVATIONS,
1 967-1973
Brenda H eywood The e xcavations beneath York Minster,
u ndertaken d uring a pro-
g ramme of engineering work d esigned to s ave t he Minster f rom c ollapse a nd u ltimately e xtended to a reas
i mmediately outside
v ealed t he n orth-west c orner o f t he principia a nd parts o f r esidential buildings f irst c ohort of t he c overed.
I t came
l egion.
o riginally based o n c lay a nd c obble s ometimes
f rom
f ootings a nd l ess
f requently
s ometimes
s till a dhering,
f allen.
O f the
f irst category,
one
f our s ubstantial
three of which were
f rom the principia.
s ections of plaster
f rom t he r esidential build-
Two belonged to a s ingle partition which
probably stood f rom t he e arly s econd c entury i nto t he a nd had been r e-rendered s everal t imes: t han s ix s urfaces, u sually white,
f ourth c entury
o ne s ection e xhibited n o l ess
t he other no l ess t han f ive.
The p laster c oat was
s ometimes d ecorated s imply w ith r ed painted l ines,
o ne r endering was o f a r ichly c oloured d esign i n black, blue O ne portion of this partition 1 .45 m .
d is-
p laster r endering
p laster f rom partitions
p laster f rom s tone walls,
r emained i n position, i ngs,
r e-
f ortress
i n a n a rea u sually a llotted t o t he
f rom t hree t ypes of s tructure:
f inally,
c hurch,
A wealth o f R oman wall-plaster was
t imber a nd wattle partitions s till i n s itu; preserved ;
t he
o f t he Roman
x 0 .86 M .
x 0 .23m.),
( 4
f t.
9 i ns.
d isplay i n t he Undercroft of York M inster. only s mall
f ragments
t hat both t ypes
x 2 f t.
1 0 i ns.
c onserved by N orman Davey,
but
a nd r ed. x 9 i ns.;
i s n ow o n
From the s econd c ategory,
o f plaster r emained i n s itu.
I t i s
c lear,
h owever,
o f plaster partition w ere d emolished l ater i n t he R oman
period a nd l evelled t o
f orm f loor bases
The vast bulk of wall-plaster
f or presumably t he s ame r ooms.
f rom t he e xcavations was
f ound r e-used i n
t his way a nd c learly i t will be a painstaking t ask t o r econstruct t he original d esigns, O f t he
f inal
s lab o f p laster s tudied ;
i f a ny,
c ategory t wo n otable e xamples
f rom t he
s econdly,
which once adorned t he partitions. s urvive:
f irstly a
f allen c lerestorey o f the principia,
n ot y et
t he a lready well-known painted wall-plaster r ecovered
f rom a f ourth-century a nnexe t o t he n orth-west s ide of t he basilica. l arge a rea o f t he e rected i n t he f ell
( approx.
U ndercroft, 1 7
f t.
horizontal d ivision, panels,
x 1 1
c lose t o t he Roman a nnexe wall f t.;
5 .18 m .
a marbled dado,
x 3 .35 m .).
a c entral
a nd a f rieze w ith the o utline o f
s urviving p laster
A
l atter has been r econstructed by Norman Davey a nd r ef rom which i t
I t s hows
a t hreefold
f ield s ubdivided i nto
a w indow
f ramed by t he
( Fig.6.1).
The d etailed s tudy of t he d ecoration o f the wall-plaster must await t he d efinitive r eport o n t he Roman buildingS t he York M inster E xcavations. c onsiderable
i n V olume
I o f
Although of no g reat a rtistic merit,
i nterest a nd i mportance
l ie
i n t he
a m ilitary r ather than a c ivilian c ontext.
1 22
f act t hat i t i s
i ts
f rom
1 23
4 th c ent.
t he Minster
7 .
THE K INGSCOTE WALL-PAINTINGS R oger Ling
The paintings
d iscussed w ere d iscovered d uring e xcavations
1 976 by the K ingscote Archaeological A ssociation, S wain.
They had c ollapsed c oncertina
pavement
i n
d irected by E .J.
f ashion a bove t he V enus m osaic
i n a s mall hypocausted r oom a t t he western e xtremity of t he
main building e xcavated a t K ingscote ( Gloucestershire). M ost of t he f ragments were l ifted a nd patiently r econstructed by D r. N orman D avey, who produced f ive l ife-size,
l argish areas of a f igured f resco,
which was
a ttributed t o t he
r oom's
t he e xcavators t o t he l ate t hird or early e xtensive e lement r econstructed s hows b racketing Cupid a re e lements
a Cupid who
D ated by
f ourth c entury,
t he most
a pair of s eated f igures
t owards the r ight-hand f igure.
t he r emains of three
f emale
f lowers beside
i t
l ove-scene.
7 .1).
f ragmentary s tate of t he paintings makes
t he presence of Cupid i mplies
i nappropriate
a t i ts s ide;
but t he
o f Lycomedes on the i sland of S cyros. f rom C rete
a woman a mong t he d aughters
t he a rms but s till l ingers o n
a s though r eluctant t o g o t o war.
with a s cene on f ourth-century B .C.
l ove of Achilles The
f amily which t akes place
I n e ither c ase t he Cupid w ould r efer t o t he
f or D eidameia
( perhaps t he
s eated f igure a t t he l eft ).
same s cene. A f uller publication of t he paintings,
x ii
by a nalogy
we may have a
f igures with t he r eed a nd t he c alathus may n ot n ecessarily belong
to t he
E .J.
Alternatively,
S cythian bow-cases,
l eave-taking between Achilles a nd Lycomedes' a fter h e has been r evealed.
l ured him t o r eveal h im-
i n t he B ritish Museum s hows a v ersion
o f t he s cene where t he h ero a lready has h is t hrone,
e xposed i n
Normally Achilles would not be
s hown s eated a fter he r eceived t he arms which but a s arcophagus
l eft l eg i s
f or a martial d eity l ike M inerva or D ea R oma.
Another possibility i s Achilles d isguised a s
s elf;
i nterpreta-
a G reek mythological
The r ight-hand s eated f igure has t he l ong d rapery of a
and a s hield r ests
a way quite
Other
l eft e lbow w ith
and part of a s eated f igure w ith a c alathus o f
( fig.
Although t he t ion d ifficult,
Above t he
f igures with n imbed h eads.
a re part o f a f igure p erhaps r eclining on i ts
a r eed i n t he hand,
f emale,
f lies
o ver t wo-thirds
s outh wall.
Swain, ( 1981),
will
a ppear e lsewhere.
written i n c onjunction with
( See a lso b rief
1 67-175).
1 24
a ccount Britannica,
Kingscote
Villa
8 .
N EW D ISCOVERIES FROM THE NORFOLK S TREET V ILLA, J ean E . This paper i s
L EICESTER
M ellor
d ivided i nto t hree s ections,
d ealing f irstly w ith
t he c ontext f rom which the wall-paintings were r ecovered,
s econdly
w ith t he d iscovery of the wall-paintings a nd t he problems which t heir e xcavation presented a nd t hirdly,
w ith t he wall-paintings
A word o f c aution w ould be a ppropriate here: t hat much o f what f ollows paintings t hemselves e ted.
i t w ill be
i s v ery much a n i nterim s tatement.
a re s till
much more r esearch i s
t hemselves. a pparent T he wall-
i n t he process of r econstruction a nd
r equired w hen t heir c onservation has been c ompl-
S ome possible l ines of e nquiry a re outlined a t the e nd of t he
paper. I n a ddition,
v ery l ittle of t he other material
been s tudied i n a ny d etail a nd f urther e xcavation, O ctober 1 980,
f rom t he s ite has
which b egan i n
will d oubtless n ecessitate t he r evision of s ome of t he
s tatements made below. 1 .
T he v illa l ies a bout half a mile outside the Roman town of Ratae Coritanorum,
o n r ising g round west o f t he r iver S oar.
has been k nown s ince the
n oted d uring g rubbing out o perations ( Nichols
I ( 1)12).
i n t he Cherry O rchard t here
I n 1 851 t he L eicester L iterary a nd P hilosophical
S ociety u ncovered a s eries o f t essellated pavements f ollowing y ear t he a psidal, to t he,
t hen,
The s ite
l ate 1 8th c entury when pavements were
C ity Museum.
d olphin
a nd i n t he
mosaic was l ifted a nd r emoved
The p lan of t he 1 851 e xcavations
s howed
a s ingle range of r ooms opening o ff a c orridor on the e ast s ide while t he e xistence o f a north w ing was c orridor pavement a t r ight a ngles
i ndicated by a s econd
t o t he
f irst.
( See
f ig.8.1).
I n 1 868 t he e xistence o f t his n orth w ing was apparently c onfirmed when a f urther f ragment of pavement was
r ecorded during t he build-
i ng of t errace h ouses on the s outh s ide of Watts Causeway
( now
K ing R ichard's Road ). I n 1 975
e xcavations by t he L eicestershire Archaeological F ield U nit
o n t he e ast s ide of Norfolk S treet r evealed a n open c ourtyard a rea w ith a n a isled barn or workshop t o t he u ntil
s outh,l but i t was not
1 979 t hat e xcavation was p ossible on the s ite o f t he presumed
north wing.
B etween F ebruary a nd May 1 979
u ncovered i n t his
a r ange of r ooms was
a rea with a s eparate block a t the n orth-east
c orner,
probably a bath-house,
f loors.
I t was to t his block t hat t he pavement r ecorded i n
with hypocausts
a nd t essellated 1 868
b elonged. From t he
1 975
a nd 1 979
c entury d iscoveries
e xcavations i t became
r epresented a l ate
s tage
c lear t hat t he
1 9th
i n t he d evelopment of
the s ite which had been o ccupied s ince t he mid-second c entury a t l east.
This earlier o ccupation was
of c hannels
a nd gullies
r epresented mainly by a s eries
running d own t he s lope
1 27
a nd by a number of
f i r MI S W IM
( 19 79)
BASE ME NT
RO O M
-
, e 88 8 f lf le as a g e
1 —
I
I /
7 / / /
z
NORFOLK S T . ROMAN V ILLA
/
0
Figure 8 .1
L E ICESTER :
5 J I 1 1
1
1 5
: P lan o f main villa buildings r ecovered i n 1 851 a nd 1 979
1 28
hearths or ovens
o f varying s hapes
f ew o ther s tructures
i ndicated b y
a nd s izes.
There were
s light s tone
a
f oundations
but a dwelling house a ssociated w ith t his phase of a ctivity has n ot been identified. Major r e-organisation of the s ite t he
l ate
3 rd c entury w ith the
t he
s tone buildings.
k nown s o t hree
f ar,
I n i ts
s eems t o have taken place
c onstruction of a t
l atest phase t he
c onsisted of a s eries
c omplex,
o f buildings
a s
i t i s
r anged r ound
s ides of a n open a rea or c ourtyard.
The west wing c onsisted of a r ange of r ooms, which was t hese
i n
l east s ome of
a psidal,
o pening off a c orridor.
r ooms had f loors of mortar or o pus
l ater r eplaced by t essellated pavements. s imple g eometric patterns, t esserae.
S outh of t he
mortar surface,
was
the
c entral o ne of
I nitially,
Most of t hese had v ery
c arried out i n c oarse
c ourtyard,
s ome of
s igninum which were r ed a nd grey
which had a r ather patchy
a l arge a isled barn or workshop built mainly
of t imber. The p lan of t he main n orth w ing was a pparently v ery s imple, c omprising a s ingle r ange of r ooms opening o ff a c orridor on the s outh.
Of t he k nown rooms
i n t his
r ange o nly t he
s eems to have had a t essellated pavement;
i n t he
east e nd of the block o nly t races of t hin mortar f oundations
c orridor
r ooms a t t he f loors o n c lay
s urvived.
At t he n orth-east c orner o f t his w ing was a s eparate block w ith its
own c orridor off which l ed a nothcr s eries of r ooms.
r ooms e xcavated i n t his block had t essellated f loors d esign a nd c onstruction to those of t he west wing. r ooms had c hannelled hypocausts openings of wall
a nd i n
All t he
s imilar i n
Two of t he
t he l arger of t hese t he
f lues survived.
The wall-paintings however, the main north wing.
were
a ssociated w ith t he w est end of
H ere two adjacent rooms on t he g round f loor
had walls d ecorated i n contrasting s tyles while a c ellar or basement room below a lso had painted walls but with v ery s imple g eometric patterns. All
t he buildings were of s ubstantial c onstruction with stone
f oundations
a nd t iled r oofs.
comfort with s ome
The g eneral impression i s o f s olid
r efinement i n t he
a nd d ecorated walls or s ophistication.
f orm of t essellated f loors
t hough w ithout a chieving t he h eight of e legance I t i s
i n t his
c ontext t hat t he wall-paintings
s hould be s een. 2 .
Towards
t he west e nd of t he north wing a c ellar o f R oman d ate was
i dentified which had a pparently g one out o f u se with rubble a fter which t he stone r obbed. of the
f rom t he
Consequently work i n t his a rea began with r obber t renches.
Very
f acing here
t he e xcavation
l ittle material h ad been r emoved f rom
the r obber t rench of t he east c ellar wall, became apparent that, plaster
a nd f illed u p
c ellar walls had been
a lthough t he
however,
before
i t
s tonework had been r obbed,
t he
s till r emained i n position a s a thin v ertical
s heet held between the
f illing of t he
f illing of t he c ellar.
Although only t he back o f t he p laster was
1 29
r obber t rench a nd t he r ubble
Plate
8 .1: Painted plaster c lay-brick wall,
f ragments a s
f rom west
found i n c ellar
s ide o f f illing.
v isible f ace
a t t his s tage the possibility of wall-paintings o n t he
c ould not be
i gnored s o t he u sual s equence o f o perations was
r eversed a nd t he excavation of t he rubble
f illing of t he
c ellar
w as begun. When a bout 1 m .
of t he rubble had been r emoved,
l arge
f ragments
of painted plaster were exposed,
l ying f ace u pwards a nd f orming
a f airly
8 .1).
c oherent
l ayer
( see pl.
The
f ragments were
l ifted
a nd r emoved t o the Museum l aboratory. I mmediately below this
l ayer of plaster was
t he c ollapsed wall
i tself which had been c onstructed of u nbaked c lay bricks bonded t ogether w ith more t he g round f loor, t he w est a nd, c ollapsed, 8 .2).
d uring
of c .15
It was
evidently a partition wall f rom
t he process of d ecay o r d emolition,
more or l ess
B elow t he wall,
its east t he
c lay.
between the r oom a bove the c ellar a nd t hat t o i ntact i nto the c ellar beneath
l ying
f ace d ownwards,
f ace; appearing a s a c ontinuous sq.m.
This was
l aboratory
was
t he p laster f rom
s heet c overing a n a rea
l ifted i n small s ections a nd r emoved to
f or c onservation a nd r econstruction.
a ccount o f t his process
( For a n
s ee below p .141).
When t he excavation o f t he painted wall-plaster were east and west walls,
c ellar was r evealed,
d espite t he
c omplete,
l arge a reas o f
s till i n position o n t he
r obbing o f t he s tonework.
l ayers of p laster were present o n each wall.
Moreover,
d id t he basement r oom have painted walls but evidence substantial f loor was r ectangular s tone base 3 .
i ndicated by t renches f or s ome
Two phases of d ecoration were
f or a
f or j oists
a nd a
r epresented by t he wall-plaster o n I n both phases the d ecoration
c onsisted of s imple g eometric d esigns
c arried out i n a r estricted
r ange of c olours o n a white background a bove I n phase
Two
not o nly
f eature was a lso f ound i n position.
the walls of t he basement r oom .
dado.
i t h ad
( see pl.
a wide blue-grey
1 o n t he west wall r ectangles were outlined i n
broad r ed a nd narrow black l ines while o n t he opposite wall i n t he s ame phase the main d esign was c omposed o f broad r ed v ertical a nd d iagonal this
l ines
f orming a t rellis-like pattern.
On each wall
l ayer of wall-plaster had been s ystematically pecked t o
provide
a k ey f or t he n ext l ayer.
t ion was
s imilar on both walls;
I n t he s econd phase t he d ecora-
r ectangular panels were outlined
i n b road r ed a nd y ellow l ines o n a white background. D espite the s implicity of d esign here t here of i nterest t o be noted, e nt patterns o n
t he opposing walls
a s n o plaster survived o n s ide
the
l imits of t he e xcavation,
The wall-paintings
c ellar
t he u se of d iffer-
t he e arlier phase.
H owever, l ay o ut-
a ny f urther s peculation a bout
r oom a t t his
t ime
f rom the two adjacent rooms
i s u nprofitable. o n
t he g round f loor
a s triking c ontrast i n s tyle both w ith e ach o ther a nd w ith
t he basement r oom. ments
i n
t he north wall a nd t he s outh wall
t he overall a ppearance of t he
provide
a re one or t wo points
i n particular perhaps,
f ound l ying f illing)
That f rom t he f ace u pwards
was
l ess
c omplete
j ust begun when i t had to be l arger s ection.
H owever,
r oom to t he west
a bove t he
( i.e.,
c ollapsed wall
t he
a nd r econstruction work had o nly
s uspended i n order t o d eal w ith
i t has
1 31
f rag-
i n t he t he
so f ar been p ossible t o r econstruct
P late
8 .2
: E ast-west s ection t hrough c ellar f illing,
s howing
c ollapsed partition wall f rom ground f loor.
a n F -ea
0 .
t ion was f ruits,
2 m,
x l m.
Here
a h orizontal
perhaps peaches
Above this
t he most striking
f eature of t he d ecr , -, --
f rieze or g arland of green or o ranges,
a re panels outlined i n s haded r ed,
green,
w ith pyramids of t hree
z ontal
g arland a ppears
the d ecoration.
l eaves with yellow
painted on a white g round.
r ed s pots
yellow a nd possibly
a t t he
c orners.
T he hori-
to o ccupy a p osition n ear the t op o f
I t i s perhaps worth noting h ere that i f t his
material had b een
f ound
f irst a s
i solated f ragments
i t would not
have been possible t o t ell whether t he garland was v ertical o r h orizontal;
t his was only
f ragments to t he
a pparent f rom t he r elationship of t he
c lay-brick wall beneath t hem.
impression of t he d ecoration here, c onstructed s o The
d ifferent
i mmediately a bove t he s tyle.
r e-
l argely
c ellar was d ecorated i n
The s ection r ecovered f rom below t he c lay-
brick wall,
i s
t ive
f rom f loor t o
s cheme
The g eneral
s mall panel
f ar i s pleasantly l ight a nd d elicate.
a djacent r oom,
a quite
f rom t he
c omplete a nd r epresents
t he e ntire
c eiling a nd more than half t he
d ecoral ength
of t he wall. The main z one of d ecoration i s
c omposed o f a lternate
l arge panels
o f r ed a nd g reen,
s eparated by i llusionistic c olumns,
w ith v ine s crolls
a nd with Corinthian-type capitals,
i mitation ovolo with a f urther,
f loral,
entwined a ll below a n
f rieze a bove t his.
s ection which has been r ecovered c onsists of two c omplete panels,
o ne
z one i s
a pale yellow band a nd then a s eries of smaller panels
a lternately
c omplete green o ne a nd part of a nother.
The r ed
l ong a nd s hort,
s plashed pink baseboard,
B elow t his
painted i n imitation marbling a bove
a
( Fig.7.2).
The
l arge
a re
f ramed w ith a band of darker r ed with a blue band r ound t hat.
The
c orresponding e lements of t he green panels
yellow,
r ed panels have
white
a pair o f white
i nner border l ines a re
a nd
r espectively
a nd r ed.
From t he top c orners of the r ed panels hangs a ttempt has been made
t o
a green g arland.
r ender t his r ealistically;
No
i t i s painted
i n small green blotches v ery c lose together w ith o ccasional highl ights
i n white
Within
t he
a nd yellow.
c omplete green
yellow f rame.
f ragmentary but what i s l andscape,
f ield i s
a small picture panel
The d esign within t he
l eft d oes s uggest a p icture,
w ith some u nidentified o bject i n t he
upper part i s painted i n pale blue a t t he bottom while
i n a wide
f rame i s u nfortunately v ery p erhaps
f oreground.
s hading i nto g reens
j ust off c entre
i s
a The
a nd browns
a s wirling mixture of d eep
pink a nd white with a n i ndication of s omething e lse which might c onceivably be a r aised sword. i ntention was
There
s eems
l ittle d oubt that t he
t o r epresent a n a ctual picture i n a wooden
a wooden f rame of i dentical
t ype a nd s imilar d imensions
f rame; i s
i n
t he
British Museum. 2 The
f act
t hat s o much
o f t his
c entral motif i s missing s uggests
t he possibility t hat i t had been damaged or d eliberately d efaced before the wall collapsed. Between t he
l arge panels
are
i llusionistic
1 33
c olumns,
t he
s hafts
N\ N
0 0
0
0 0 C M
1 34
0
painted i n g reyish pinks y ellow a nd brown bases. bases
i s
s hadow.
a nd purples,
a g reen l eaf-shaped o bject, Round the
c olumn s hafts
s urviving
probably a n a ttempt a t a
s piral w hite v ine
i n c ontrast t o t he g reen garlands, ( pl.
w ith yellow c apitals a nd
To t he r ight of e ach of t he
s crolls which,
a re painted r ealistically,
8 .3).
There
s eems t o have been a n a ttempt i n
t his
s uggest v olume a nd perspective but t he The l ight s eems
t o be
c oming f rom within t he
t han f rom a s ingle e xternal s ource, bases of t he
c olumns
z one of d ecoration t o
r esult i s r ather c onfused.
f all
r ed panels
t hough t he
c onsistently
r ather
' shadows'
a t t he
t o t he r ight.
Above t he l arge panels i s a l arge s cale i mitation ovolo painted i n pink a nd g reyish purple on a white g round and a bove this, t hough r ather f ragmentary,
i s
a f rieze of white,
yellow a nd g reen l eaves
o n a d ark r ed background. The
l ong a nd s hort marbled panels o n t he
e cho t he
b elow t he c olumns. s hades
t han t he
The narrow panels
l ong o nes,
white s cribbles
being a lternately green a nd grey w ith
a nd g rey w ith green,
a nd blobs
blue
white s treaks a nd blobs are
It s eems
a nd yellow blobs.
g reen,
blue
a yellow g round w ith r ed a nd
a gain overlain by r ed s cribbles.
f ramed by green a nd white
All t he
streaked bands.
l ikely t hat t he original height o f t he r oom was
i n excess o f 3 .00 m . being 2 .97 m .
The
a nd yellow
o n a white g round a ll overlain by r ed s cribbles.
Those below t he g reen f ields have panels
c oming
a re painted i n somewhat d arker
l ong panels below t he r ed f ields have streaks
l ower part of t he wall
a rrangement of t he main z one with t he narrow panels
T he
t he maximum height o f t he
s plashed pink baseboard i s i ncomplete
but a t o ne point a t
l east t he
s omething
s urviving s ection
f ull d epth a ppears
a nd r agged
t o be r epresented
where the painting i s overlain by splashes of c oarse pink mortar, which presumably i ndicate the j unction with t he width of t he
f loral
f rieze a bove
f loor.
The
f ull
the ovolo a t t he top o f t he
s ection however i s not r epresented. It i s possible to make The
a n e stimate of t he t otal
s alvaged s ection i s
c .
4 .50 m .
l ength of t he wall.
l ong a nd i ncludes
t hree c omplete
panels a nd part of a f ourth with t he i ntervening c olumns, f ig. i s
8 .2.
The
c olumn a t t he
r ight
v ery much w ider than t he
t he original wall.
( i.e.
north)
e nd
r est a nd presumably marks
I f t he d esign i s
s ee
o f t he s ection t he e nd o f
r econstructed w ith
f ive
panels a nd a nother broad c olumn a t t he south e nd t he t otal would be with
7 .20 m .
s ize here would f it r easonably well
t he position of t he east-west c orridor r ecorded i n
a lthough
t he a ccuracy of t he
be d esired. to b e
A r oom of t his
However,
i f t he
c omplete l ength
1 9th c entury plan
l eaves
1 851,
s omething t o
r oom with t he wall painting i s
a ssumed
t he same s ize a s the basement below t hen t he r ectangular
stone base
r ecorded i n t he
The quality o f t he wall painting,
l atter would o ccupy t he
c entral position.
f inished surface varied i n d ifferent a reas of t he
a nd it i s
extent these v ariations
not a lways a re
e asy
t o d istinguish
due to c onditions
extent t hey r eflect the original t echniques qualities of t he p igments.
I n s ome
1 35
a reas
t o w hat
o f burial o r t o what
o r t he s urvival
i t i s
c lear t hat
t he paint
P late
8 .3
:D etail o f painted v ine s croll r ound one o f t he c olumns on the main s ection o f wall-painting. The
j oin between a pplications of p laster
s een on t he
l eft.
c an be
was
a pplied t o a r ougher plaster
the pink baseboard has
s urface,
f or e xample i n p laces
a much c oarser t exture, t he s urface
e specially t owards
t he bottom .
O ver most o f t he wall
r emarkable,
but one of t he r ed panels r etains a n e xceptionally
s mooth a lmost polished s urface while e xtremely patchy a nd has l oss o f
i s g ood t hough u n-
t he other,
by c ontrast,
l ost a g ood d eal of t he c olour.
i s
H ere
t he
c olour s eems t o be a t l east partly t he r esult o f an
a ccident o f burial
a s t his
a rea has been c ompressed onto a l ayer
o f v ery s ticky c lay which,
when i t was r emoved d uring t he c leaning
process brought t he paint o ff t oo. This
s uggests t hat a t rue
f resco t echnique was n ot u sed here but
this question s till r equires
f urther i nvestigation,
a s d oes t he
polished surface o f t he other r ed panel. What a ppears
t o be a n e xample o f
c areless workmanship c an be
s een
i n the green a nd white s treaked bands s urrounding t he marbled panels where t here
i s o ccasional but i nconsistent variation i n
the d irection o f t he s treaks. The application of t he wall-plaster was c arried out i n two quite s eparate s tages a nd the painting o f t he before the s econd l ayer was
a pplied.
observed while t he p laster was d ifferences
s till
f irst s tage was c ompleted
Evidence f or t his was
f irst
i n the g round when d istinct
i n the c olour o f t he plaster backing c ould be s een.
Now t hat t he work o f r e-assembly i s
c omplete t he
j oints or s eams
between the two applications of plaster
c an be t raced c learly on
the
8 .3.
f ace of t he wall-painting,
s ee f ig.
The p laster base f or t he r ed panels, ovolo and t he f rieze,
i ncluding t he c olumns,
the
was a pplied f irst a nd t his a rea was painted.
Not only was the basic c olour a pplied but s ome,
i f n ot a ll,
of
the d ecorative d etail was
c ompleted b efore t he s econd l ayer of
plaster,
the g reen panels
a nd t he
applied.
This
l ower part of t he wall,
c an be s een c learly a t t he
was
s ides of t he g reen panels,
where the s econd l ayer of plaster overlaps the c olumns a nd c overs the overpainted white v ine The r ecovery,
s crolls.
n ot only of s uch a l arge a nd r elatively c omplete
s ection of wall-painting but a lso of t he d ecoration f rom t he adjacent r oom f rom t he basement below p rovides u s w ith a unique opportunity t o s tudy not only a variety of s tyles of d ecoration f rom the
s ame building but a lso t o
i nvestigate s ome o f t he m ethods
a nd t echniques which were employed.
I t must be c lear f rom t he
preceeding a ccount t hat there a re a number of questions d emanding f urther
i nvestigation a nd v arious
l ines of r esearch can be p roposed.
S ome of t hese have a lready been mentioned a bove, question of whether a t rue evidence at present s eems
f or e xample t he
f resco t echnique was employed. conflicting;
d istinct l ayers of p laster s uggests
The
the a pplication o f two
a f resco t echnique whereas
f laking off of t he paint f rom s ome a reas
t he
i ndicates t hat a bond
between p laster a nd paint was not a chieved. Analysis of t he pigments has a lready begun t hough n o r esults available y et.
I t i s
three r ooms t o
s ee i f,
a re
i ntended t o c ompare t he p igments u sed i n t he f or e xample,
1 37
cheaper,
or more e asily
1 38 i llustrating method of application
a vailable
c olours w ere u sed i n the basement.
be p ossible t o
d ecorative d etail, i norganic.
I t i s
a t l east to i ndicate whether i t was o rganic or
a lso proposed t o e xamine t he p laster i tself,
c onstituents a nd t heir r elative proportions. powder i s
I t may a dditionally
i dentify t he medium u sed f or the overpainting a nd
s uggested a s
The u se
i ts
o f marble
c ontributory t o t he v ery s mooth polished
s urface o f s ome a reas a nd i t s hould be p ossible t o identify t his material
i f i t i s present.
The e xact d ate of t he wall-paintings h as y et t o be e stablished. Comparatively l ittle d ating e vidence was r ecovered f rom t he e xcavat ions
a nd t he s ignificance of t he material has y et t o be
The t essellated pavements t he
f irst half of the
a re
4 th c entury was
f ound i n t he rubble
of t he s toke-hole of t he l arger hypocaust. however, buildings
t hat t he main n orth w ing was the t o b e c onstructed,
The paintings examples of r ecovered
f illing
I t i s n ot i mpossible, f irst o f t his
s eries of
a nd t hat t he wall-paintings b elong t o
a n e arlier phase t han the t essellated pavements. f urther work r emains
a ssessed.
4 th c entury i n s tyle a nd a c oin o f
O nce a gain,
t o b e d one.
f rom t he N orfolk S treet v illa a re n ot t he o nly
s uch d ecoration f rom L eicester.
f ine e xamples of paintings
I n 1 958 M r.Wacher
f rom t he walls a nd a c eiling
of a house o f s econd c entury date within t he t own.3 C omparison of t he s tyles,
material and t echniques u sed i n i nterior d ecoration
i n a t own house a nd a v illa dates
s hould prove
f ruitful.
i n t he s ame
a rea t hough of d ifferent
F inally t he wall-paintings must a lso
be s een i n t he c ontext i n which they were f ound, i n a ssociation with t he other e vidence of t he buildings, t heir c onstruction, f unction,
c omfort or otherwise and t heir e mbellishment a nd i n
t his way to h elp t o c larify the p icture of t he l ife-style o f t he i nhabitants o f a modest v illa o n t he outskirts o f a provincial Roman t own.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I s hould l ike t o t hank D r. i nterest
R oger L ing
f or h is
i n a nd c omments on t he wall-paintings
c ontinuing
f rom Leicester.
NOTES 1 . 2 .
B ritannia V II, H inks,
1 933 pl.
bringing t his 3 .
D avey,
p 975
P l.
xxiv.
X XVIIB.
I a m i ndebted t o D r.D.J.
r eference t o my a ttention.
1 972:262
1 39
Smith
f or
B IBLIOGRAPHY Britannia,
1 976.
Davey,
1 972.
N .,
2 51-265', H inks,
R .P.,
VII. ' Conservation of Romano-British Painted P laster
Britannia III. 1 933.
C atalogue of t he Greek, Etruscan a nd R oman
Paintings a nd Mosaics i n N ichols,
J .,
1 795-1811.
of L eicester.
t he British Museum.
T he H istory a nd A ntiquities of t he c ounty
8 vols.
1 40
9 .
THE L IFTING OF THE ROMAN WALLPLASTER
FROM THE NORFOLK STREET ROMAN V ILLA,
L EICESTER,
ENGLAND
Theodore Sturge I ntroduction The purpose o f t his paper i s t o d escribe t he i ng of t he Roman V illa s o
i n L eicester,
E ngland.
t hat i t can b e u sed a s
problems.
l ifting a nd r ecord-
f allen wallplaster f rom t he c ellar of t he N orfolk S treet a guide
The work will b e d escribed i n d etail s hould others
For d etails of h ow i t was
f ound,
Jean Mellor's paper i n t his volume of B .A.R. d istinct categories,
t he
encounter s imilar
r eference
f ace up material a nd the
As t he problems were quite d ifferent,
s hould b e made t o
The material was f ace
i n two
d own material.
t hey will b e d ealt w ith s eparately.
The Face U p Material When the wall
f ell,
t he wall and s catter.
c onsiderably s eparated, positions. f or i t
t he s hock made t he plaster b reak a way f rom
However,
a lthough the pieces became
i n s ome c ases
t hey r etained their a pproximate r elative
Before i t was
l ifted t he plaster was washed s ufficiently
t o be d rawn a nd photographed i n s itu.
Care must b e taken i f
u sing bowls of water a nd s ponges a s t hey r apidly become d irty a nd t he d irt t hen a cts
a s a n u nwelcome a brasive.
Care must a lso b e taken
because the pigments may b e water s oluble. The
f ragments were
t hem to f ree t hem. a s possible t his
The
l ifted by s liding knives a nd t rowels u nder
f ragments were then placed o n boards a s nearly
i n t he position t hey w ere
s tage t o r eposition p ieces,
f ound i n.
N o a ttempt was made
a t
partly t o s ave t ime but a lso because
of the danger o f making a m istake which would make l ater w ork i n t he l aboratory more d ifficult. t his
O ne r ed l ine
l ooks much l ike a nother a t
s tage when t he material i s o nly partly c lean.
s how where the b oards of p ieces
A p lan was made to
f itted r elative t o o ne a nother.
The Face D own Material This was r ather a d ifferent problem because i t i nvolved working f rom t he back of p laster w ithout k nowing what was on the p laster a ppeared a s a f airly s olid u nbroken s heet. t he
i nitial
a ttempt a t
l ifting was v ery s imple.
f ace.
For t his
The
r eason,
A small s ection was
f reed f rom the main body of plaster by cutting w ith a s aw r ight t hrough t o t he t o
r emove the
r ubble u nderneath. s ection.
H owever,
to be totally i mpractical. d istinct l ayers.
s oon a s
This was because
T he backing p laster,
f airly s oft,
had b ent t o t he
H owever,
f ine
t he
Trowels were
a s
then pushed u nderneath
t his was
t ried i t was
the p laster was
which was
s hape of the rubble
3 0-40 mm.
f ound
i n t wo
thick a nd
f ill when i t f ell.
l ayer of painted plaster was harder a nd m ore b rittle
a nd r ather than b end had s hattered on impact. At s ome
s tage t he c ellar was
f looded a nd t his
1 41
r esulted i n
a s ilt
l ike
mud being
p laster.
T his
c arried i nto a ll a lso,
l ayers o f p laster. while others were p laster a nd the l ayer w ere
i n parts,
P arts o f t he s andy.
T his
l ifting.
t he c racks between the p ieces of f ine
g ot r ight between t he f ill
i n the
f ine
a nd t he r ough
c ellar w ere muddy i n n ature
a ffected both t he preservation o f t he
Those a reas
l ying on a w ell d rained s andy
i n e xcellent c ondition but t hose o n a muddy l ayer w ere
l ess g ood c ondition. have had t he l ime
i n
The a reas of p laster l ying o n mud a ppeared t o
l eeched out of them,
r educing t he s trength o f t he
p laster a nd t he bond of t he paint l ayer. r ight hand r ed panel,
the paint was,
I n t he worst a rea on t he
i n part,
s eparated f rom t he
r emaining plaster by a l ayer of mud a nd t he edges were badly d eteriorated,
g iving bad j oins.
The
o f t he
a reas
f ragments
l ying on s andy
material were much e asier t o u ndercut d uring l ifting t han t hose a reas o n mud s ince t he s andy material c rumbled e asily away. The f oam.
s econd a ttempt to l ift t he p laster was made u sing p olyurethane
This
f ailed because
This prevented t he u sed, we
i t was v ery c old a nd t he plaster was
f oam f rom f orming s atisfactorily.
i t would have g iven c onsiderable problems
c ame t o r emove
i t because the gas which
e xtremely t oxic a nd i s r eleased when t he F inally,
Also,
d amp.
had i t b een
i n the laboratory w hen
f orms
t he bubbles
f oam i s
i s
c ut.
the t raditional method u sing plaster of paris was u sed.
This process will be d escribed s tage by s tage: 1 .
F irst t he
r ough backing plaster w as
was done
f or t wo r easons:
s ections
a nd b )
a )
r emoved
( see
f ig.
9 .1).
t o r educe t he weight of t he
a s has a lready been n oted,
t he
This
l ifted
f ine plaster l ayer
was v ery poorly a ttached to t he r ough p laster,
s o i t t ended t o
d rop off d uring l ifting.
s oft a nd easily
r emoved w ith t rowels. d efined by a c hange
The r ough plaster was
The back of t he f ine plaster was
f rom s oft t o hard.
l ayer of mud between the two possible,
l ayers.
Also,
c learly
s ome a reas had a
T his mud was,
a s
f ar a s
s craped off a s i t prevented t he plaster of paris
The r emaining
s ticking.
l ayer of f ine p laster v aried f rom a bout 5 -25 mm.
i n
thickness. 2 .
N ext,
plaster o f paris
bucket)
was
a pplied t o
( bought i n bulk a nd mixed i n a r ubber a n a rea o f a bout 1 .5 m2 . T he p laster of
paris was poured on t o t he back of t he p laster a nd s pread, t rowels, was
t o
a t hickness of a bout 4 mm.
s till wet,
I nitially, s tages
While the plaster o f paris
c loth was s pread out a nd pressed i nto
p lasterer's
s crim was u sed.
H owever,
t hickness
of 6 -10 mm.
that i t e xpands a s
i t s ets
l ater
On t op o f t he
a pplied to g ive
a
O ne problem with plaster o f paris a nd o n a l arge a rea t his
bow and l ift away f rom t he Roman p laster.
c an make
i s i t
This problem i s o vercome
by a pplying t he p laster of paris t o s mall a reas, a nd then j oining the
t he s urface.
i n the
l arge pieces of h essian were u sed i nstead.
c loth a s econd l ayer o f plaster of paris was t otal
w ith
a llowing i t t o s et
s mall a reas together w ith more plaster of
paris. 3 .
I t was n ot possible t o
l ift v ery l arge a reas
of paris had to be d ivided, 400 mm.
w ith a s aw,
A curved f loorboard s aw
( fig.
i nto
9 .1 )
i t i s d esigned t o cut i nto a f lat s urface. a re c urved quite l ike
t his one:
t he o ne
i s
a t o nce ideal
Not a ll
a bout 2 50 x
f or this
s ince
f loorboard s aws
e u sed was made b y Tyzack.
I t s hould be noted t hat u sing a s aw f or t his purpose
1 42
s o t he p laster
s ections
c ompletely
r uins 9 .1 )
i t,
s o o ne s hould be purchased s pecially.
The c ut
( see f ig.
went r ight t hrough t he p laster of paris but n ot t he R oman
p laster.
There
i s n o problem s topping a t t his point a s t he f eel
a nd s ound c hange o nce t he R oman p laster i s r eached . t he s ections a re n umbered w ith a v ery l arge p ositions marked o n a p lan.
Also,
At t his s tage
f elt t ip p en a nd t heir
t he e dges a re marked s o t hat
t hey c orrespond w ith t hose of t he pieces n ext t o t hem s o t hat t hey c an be l aid out t he r ight w ay r ound i n t he l aboratory. All markings o n t he p laster o f paris must b e v ery bold o therwise t hey a re e asily r ubbed off . 4 .
E ach s ection was u ndercut i ndividually u sing t rowels,
k nives a nd
f ingers.
T he p laster o f paris d id not s tick v ery w ell t o t he R oman
p laster,
partly because o f r esidual mud a nd partly b ecause i t w as
v ery w et blessing.
( it was i mpossible t o d ry i t out ).
T his w as a m ixed
I t m eant t hat i t was v ery e asy t o s eparate t he R oman
material i n t he l aboratory but i t t ended t o d rop o ff d uring l ifti ng.
U sually t he p laster was c onnected t o t he main body o f p laster
o n t wo s ides.
T his l eft one c orner w ith no s upport.
For t his r eason,
d uring u ndercutting a c olumn was l eft a t t he e nd n ot a ttached t o t he main body
( see f ig.
9 .1 )
t o t ake t he w eight while t he r est was
u ndercut. When t he r est was f ree t his
c olumn was g radually r emoved
a nd a board t he s ame s ize a s t he s ection was s lid i nto p lace o n t he
f ace of t he R oman plaster t o hold t he p ieces
t he p laster o f p aris. plaster o f paris plaster.
i n p lace a gainst
This s andwich of p lywood/Roman plaster/
c ould t hen be wriggled f ree
f rom t he main body o f
The R oman plaster s eparated a long pre-existing b reaks.
This s andwich c an t hen b e turned o ver t o l eave t he R oman p laster l ying o n i ts p laster o f paris s upport.
T his i s best d one over a
c lean b oard s o t hat a ny pieces t hat f all o ut c an b e e asily r etrieved. 5 .
The l ifted s ections w ere t hen t aken t o t he l aboratory a nd l aid o ut. I t was
f ound t hat i f t he p laster was a llowed t o d ry o ut b efore i t
w as c leaned,
t he mud o r c lay o n t he s urface s hrank a nd t ended t o
pull t he p igment o ff w ith i t .
F or t his r eason i t was k ept w et b y
r egular s praying a nd k eeping i t u nder polythene s heet. d amp c onditions,
h owever,
Storage i n
t ended t o g ive m ould g rowth s o a s mall
a mount of s odium o rtho phenyl phenate was a dded t o t he s pray water a s a mould i nhibitor.
A protective mask must b e worn d uring s pray-
i ng i f f ungicide i s u sed.
1 44
10.
ROMANO-BRITISH WALL-PAINTINGS FROM TARRANT H INTON, Lt-Col.
1 " 1 .
OS
s heet 1 79
or 1 :50, 000
G .E.
s heet
7 km NE of BLANDFORD FORUM:
Gray
1 95.
ST927118.
1 km W of R r oad BADBURY R INGS
K INGSTON DEVERELL and probably BATH road BADBURY R INGS 2 .
The site was
t o OLD SARUM
( Margary 46 );
( Margary 4 c).
i nvestigated f ollowing agricultural operations
i n
The r eport r eferred to
walls
a lso
" with stucco
thickness,
and coloured f acings"
with a smooth plaster on the
work,
arches,
f oliage,
to more e laborate suggestion that small
t own,
& c probably,
Field
borders or
the name of which i s now buried
1
No plan of the excavation was then made therefore cannot be
on
The report continued with the
i ndicate t hat a Roman village,
stood upon the s pot,
i n oblivion".
f eet
r epresenting r ibbon
f rom their s ituation,
c entral d esigns".
" the r emains
" walls t hree
i nterior surface,
which appeared f rescoes of various patterns,
4 .
t o
7 km W of R
1 845 when crops withered during drought. i n
3 .
DORSET
the
identified but a scatter of pottery etc.
suggested a s ite and t rial trenches were
exact l ocation
within Barton
e xcavated i n
1 968.
These yielded amongst other materials,
some painted wall-plaster.
Extensive
summers yielded quantities
excavation during subsequent
of wall-plaster Building
f rom three s eparate rooms,
I I Room I I
viz.,
and Building I II Room I .
2
Building
Only t he
these has yet been studied and r econstruction i s now well Three qualities of plaster have been n oted 4 .1
Very hard sand coloured homogeneous backing up to 50 mm t hick with hard white
f acing f ilm of plaster
to which pigment had been applied. 4 .2
Much
s ofter backing with pieces of chalk up to
5 mm cube and s ome evidence of having been applied to wattle; Paint a s
probably an upper
f loor room or
c eiling.
applied t o surface much thicker and
c onsequently l ess smooth than 4 . 1 above. 4 .3
Very hard sandy backing s imilar to 4 .1 but bearing an extremely hard white very smooth almost polished thin
f acing d ecorated with pink,
narrow s tripes which gave the more
than s taining the
green and mauve
impression of
surface.
There
no i ndication that this effect i s away of a thicker paint surface.
1 45
due
I I Room I ,
f irst of
l ittle
i s positively t o the wearing
advanced.
5 .
All the qualities of plaster a ppear t o b e v ery durable and f ractures have r emained sharp. moderate handling,
The pigments a re well
l ittle r esistance to water. l ess
d ue to t he
f ragments
The r obustness o f t he plaster,
c halky n ature of t he s ite,
f rom a nother s ite s ome
a cid s oil,
f ixed a nd withstand
with the e xception of Pompeian r ed which has c ompares
3 0 km d istant,
d oubt-
f avourably w ith
where t here
i s
a n
which a re l ittle more t han l umps of s and h eld t ogether
b y the paint f ilm. 6 .
I t i s
c lear f rom the e xcavation that the buildings have been s ubjec-
t ed a t s ome t ime to e xtensive r obbing,
a s
a s ource o f s tone,
a nd
f urther w ere probably part wattle or other non-stone c onstruction s o t hat much of t he wall-plaster i s u nlikely t o have s urvived f or r ecovery.
The quantities
r ecovered t o d ate are
i nsufficient t o
i ndicate t he c omplete d esign of a ny one wall but i t has b een possible t o put t ogether s ections of t he d ecorations which i t i s hoped m ight be i nterpreted by a rt h istorians to s uggest a more c omplete p icture of the v illa a s 7 .
i t might have l ooked when o ccupied.
N otable a ssemblages 7 .1
A human
i nclude:-
f oot 2 30 mm h eel to t oe a nd s hin up t o knee
l evel f acing l eft t o r ight c lose to a l eft s ide vertical border a nd a s imilar f oot only the 7 .2
f orward o f
f irst r esting on a plinth 2 85 mm h igh.
A s pear head pointing
d ownwards
( P1.10.1).
a head o f t he s econd
f oot and f urther a head a s word or d agger hilt pointing upwards. 7 .3
Both the
f eet,
( P1.10.2).
t he s pear head and the h ilt c an be
r elated t o t he upper edge of a d ado d esign c omprising a t l east t wo r oundels
3 20 mm d iameter
e ach s urrounded by a wreath a nd i nterspaced by panels o f marbling a nd/or l eaf d esign. 7 .4
( P1.10.3).
A human f ace l ooking l anguidly d ownwards to i ts r ight with c urly hair 3 and s imilar hair only w ithout f eatures t o the l eft.
The n eck a nd r ight s houlder o f the
a lso been a ssembled.
f irst f ace have
O ver a nd behind t hese h eads
i s a
s atyr-like head w ith a pparently no body but mounted o n what might be a f ountain base. 7 .5
( P1.10.4).
A g olden d isc 1 20 mm d iameter a ssociated with green c lothing
f olds a nd a f lesh c oloured area
which c ould be an e lbow and arm f rom below t he s houlder to a bove t he wrist.
The g olden d isc
bears a r epresentation of a human f ace;
a s econd
s imilar but i ncomplete g olden d isc has been identified. 7 .6
An urn or f ont l ike c lassical
8 .
( P1.10.5). s tructure of e ssentially
f orm with a g adroon d ecorated base.
All the a bove a ssemblages paragraph 4 .1. i nto two types,
a re i n t he
f irst c ategory d escribed i n
I n t he s econd c ategory, namely,
t he d esigns
f all mainly
massed f ruit a nd f loral d ecoration o f
which there are more than 2 50 f ragments yet i t has been v irtually
1 46
Spear head.
S ection of
0 r C i r d ' C I
06
C d 4 4 r d
satyr's head.
I d
C ` .
. C
t z r,
4 ) C 1 ) f I 0
cc
0
Plate
1 0.4
00