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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1925.6.7
Title
Wall Painting Fragment
Classification
Fragments
Work Type
wall painting fragment(s)
Date
1st century BCE-1st century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Roman Republican period, Late, to Early Imperial
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/292272

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pigment on plaster
Technique
Fresco painting
Dimensions
H. 9 x W. 10.5 x D. 2.5 cm (3 9/16 x 4 1/8 x 1 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Fausto Benedetti, Rome (by 1925), gift; to the 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
1925.6.7
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This fragment depicts alternating waves of red, pink, and yellow, which radiate from a central yellow circle, outlined with a thin white border.

Commentary
The bright colors of this fragment are meant to imitate colorful marble and other stones that might have been used to decorate Roman interior spaces (1). This manner of decoration became popular in Rome during the late second century BCE when it represented generic stones or marble designs. Later panels can be recognized as specific marble-types such as giallo antico or porphyry.

This style of painting is commonly referred to as the First Style, Masonry Style, or International Incrustation Style (2). It is found in earlier Greek painting (for example in the houses at Delos), but is most known from its appearance in the houses of the Vesuvian region. The style continues far beyond Pompeii and the first century CE into the Roman East where it is found at such sites as Zeugma and Sardis.


Notes:
1. J. Clayton Fant, "Real and painted (imitation) marble at Pompeii," in the World of Pompeii, the Routledge worlds (London-Routledge 2007): 336-346.

2. For a review of Roman wall painting, including an accessible introduction to the First Style, consult Roger Ling, Roman Painting (Cambridge University Press, 1991).

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