Harvard Art Museums > 1925.6.42: Wall Painting Fragment Fragments Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Wall Painting Fragment , 1925.6.42,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 24, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/292242. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1925.6.42 Title Wall Painting Fragment Classification Fragments Work Type wall painting fragment(s) Date 20 BCE-45 CE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe Period Roman Imperial period, Early Culture Roman Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/292242 Physical Descriptions Medium Pigment on plaster Technique Fresco painting Dimensions H. 7.8 x W. 5.7 x D. 1.2 cm (3 1/16 x 2 1/4 x 1/2 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Fausto Benedetti, Rome (by 1925) gift; to Fogg Museum of Art, 1925. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Fausto Benedetti Accession Year 1925 Object Number 1925.6.42 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description The white ground of this fragment is punctuated with a yellow band that serves as a groundline. On this groundline, stands a composite candelabrum figure rendered in red paint with delicate white highlights. The motif's base consists of two curved volutes while the upper, figural portion has two arms, one holding a dish. Commentary Brightly colored wall paintings often decorated the interior, and sometimes exterior, of Roman buildings. The fragment shown is just one small part of a much larger decorative scheme that would have covered an entire wall. The composite figure seen here may represent a herm, or stone sculpture with the head and torso of a male atop a stone pillar. In Roman houses, herms often decorated garden or courtyards. Herms often represented the god Hermes, but in some painted examples the torso and head are of other gods including Priapus and Hercules, identifiable based on the attributes they carry (1). Notes: 1. For two examples of painted, decorative herms see a dado painting from Pompeii VI Insula Occidentalis, 25 in the Museo Archeologico Nazional di Napoli, inv. 9688. Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2018 - 05/06/2018 Subjects and Contexts Roman Domestic Art Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
