Villa di Diomede

Fausto and Felice Niccolini, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompeii: disegnati e descritti (Naples, 1854-1896), Volume 2, Plate 7

This image of the Villa di Diomede exemplifies the Niccolini Brothers’ use of color in The Houses and Monuments of Pompeii. Such colored depictions were only made possible by the new technologies of the time. Here we see a lithograph based on an original painting that offers a panoramic view of the site. In their work, Fausto and Felice Niccolini strove to give evocative, yet accurate representations of the ruins. Their goal was to offer viewers the most complete and detailed portrayal of life in Roman Pompeii. For this reason, the Villa di Diomede is shown in its surrounding environment. This emphasis on context invited viewers to imagine what this part of Pompeii might have looked like before Vesuvius erupted.