Roman Wall Painting

The Topic:

Roman wall painting is particularly compelling, because it has a number of features that are very similar to Renaissance and modern painting, including naturalism, illusionism, and possibly the use of perspective. The bibliography below provides a number of sources on Roman wall painting in general, but also a number of very specific discussions of particular places, styles, or iconography. You may discuss any aspect of Roman wall painting. (The question of whether the Romans had knowledge of and employed linear perspective in their paintings has been what has frequently interested scholars lately. Stinson's recent article indicates that the debate is still very much active today.)

Bibliography in American Journal of Archaeology format with AJA journal abbreviations

Key to the American Journal of Archaeology’s bibliographic format:

Journal Articles: Author. Date. “Title.” Journal title Vol.: Pages. [or] Vol. (no. ): Pages

Books: Author. Date. Title. City: Publisher.

Chapters in books: Author. Date. “Chapter title.” In Book title, edited by Authors, pages. City: Publisher.

Bibliography

Allag, C., and A. Barbet. 1972. “Techniques de préparation des parois dans la peinture murale romaine.” MÉFRA 84 (2): 935–1069.

Anderson, M. 1987. Pompeian Frescoes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. BMMA 45 (3). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Archer, W. 1994. "The maturing of the fourth style: the Casa delle Nozze d'Argento at Pompeii." JRA 7: 129-150. (Ask me for a copy)

Ball, L. 2003. The Domus Aurea and the Roman Architectural Revolution. Cambridge: University Press. (Available at GMU, ask me for a copy of the ToC and an excerpt from the first chapter if you're interested.)

Barbet, A. 2000. La pittura romana: Dal pictor al restauratore. Exhibition catalogue. Imola: University Press Bologna.

Beacham, R. 1992. The Roman Theatre and Its Audience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Béarat, H., M. Fuchs, M. Maggetti, and D. Paunier, eds. 1997. Roman Wall Painting: Materials, Techniques, Analysis and Conservation. Proceedings of the International Workshop, Fribourg 7–9 March 1996. Fribourg, Switzerland: Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Bek, L. 1980. Toward Paradise on Earth: Modern Space Conception in Architecture. A Creation of Renaissance Humanism. AnalRom Suppl. 9. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press. (Unavailable)

Bergmann, B. 2010. “New Perspectives on the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale.” BMMA 67 (4): 11–32. (Should be at Auraria)

Beyen, H.G. 1938. Die pompejanische Wanddekoration vom zweiten bis zum vierten Stil. Vol. 1. The Hague, The Netherlands: Nijhoff.

———. 1939. “Die antike Zentral perspektive.” AA: cols. 47–72.

———. 1957. “The Wall-Decoration of the Cubiculum of the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor near Boscoreale in Its Relation to Ancient Stage-Painting.” Mnemosyne ser. 4, vol. 10 (2): 147–53. (JSTOR Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4427974)

———. 1964. “Die neuentdeckten Malereien auf dem Palatin.” BABesch 39:140–43.

Borbein, A. 1975. “Zur Deutung von Scherwand und Du- rchblick auf den Wandgemälden des zweiten pompe- janischen Stils.” In Neue Forschungen in Pompeji und den anderen vom Vesuvausbruch 79 n. Chr. verschütteten Städten, edited by B. Andreae and H. Kyrieleis, 61–75. Recklinghausen, Germany: Bongers.

Bragantini, I. 2004. “Una pittura senza maestri: La produzione della pittura parietale romana.” JRA 17:131–45. (Currently Unavailable)

Bucci de Santis, L. 2004. “On the Reconstruction of the Spatial Representations in Certain Roman Wall-Paintings.” In Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House, edited by D. Mazzoleni and U. Pappalardo, 402–10. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. (Should be at Auraria)

Bunim, M.S. 1940. Space in Medieval Painting and the Forerunners of Perspective. New York: Columbia University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Camerota, F. 1999. “Perspective.” In Pompeii: Life in a Roman Town, edited by A. Ciarello and E. De Carolis, 233–36. Exhibition catalogue. Milan: Electa. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Carettoni, G. 1961. “I due nuovi ambienti dipinti sul Palatino.” BdA 46:189–99. (Available at ___)

———. 1983a. Das Haus des Augustus auf dem Palatin. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

———. 1983b. “La casa di Augusto sul Palatino.” RM 90: 373–419.

Christensen, J. 1999. “Vindicating Vitruvius on the Subject of Perspective.” JHS 119:161–66. (JSTOR Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/632316) (Not suitable as a source, nor for the Review of Scholarship)

Clarke, J. 1987. “The Early Third Style at the Villa of Oplontis.” RM 94:267–94. (May prove difficult to read)

———. 1991. The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C.–A.D.250: Ritual, Space, and Decoration. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

———. 2009. “How Did Painters Create Near-Exact Copies? Notes on Four Center Paintings from Pompeii.” In New Perspectives on Etruria and Early Rome: In Honor of Richard Daniel De Puma, edited by S. Bell and H. Nagy, 134–48. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. (Should be available at Auraria)

Corso, A., and E. Romano. 1997. Vitruvio: De Architectura. Turin: Einaudi.

De Franciscis, A. 1975a. “La villa romana di Oplontis.” In Neue Forschungen in Pompeji und den anderen vom Vesu vausbruch 79 n. Chr. verschütteten Städten, edited by B. Andreae and H. Kyrieleis, 9–38. Recklinghausen, Germany: Bongers.

———. 1975b. Die pompejanischen Wandmalereien in der Villa von Oplontis. Recklinghausen, Germany: Bongers.

de Mol, H.A.C. 1991. “Some Remarks on Proportions in Fourth Style Wall-Paintings in Pompeii.” KölnJb 24: 159–63. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

de Vos, M. 1976. “Scavi nuovi sconosciuti (I 9, 13): Pitture e pavimenti della Casa di Cerere a Pompei.” Meded 38: 37–75.

Drerup, H. 1959. “Bildraum und Realraum in der römis- chen Architektur.” RM 66: 145–74.

Ehrhardt, W. 1991. “Bild und Ausblick in Wandbemalun- gen zweiten Stils.” AntK 34(1): 28–64.

Elkins, J. 1994. Poetics of Perspective. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Elsner, J. 2004. Review of The Social Life of Painting in Ancient Rome and on the Bay of Naples, by E. Leach. BMCR 2004.12.33. (Not suitable as a source, and not suitable for Review of Scholarships. URL: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-12-33.html)

Engemann, J. 1967. Architekturdarstellungen des frühen zweiten Stils: Illusionistische römische Wandmalerei der ersten Phase und ihre Vorbilder in der realen Architektur. MdI Roemische Abteilung 12. Heidelberg, Germany: Kerle.

Fergola, L., and M. Pagano. 1998. Oplontis: Le splendide ville romane di Torre Annunziata. Itinerario archeologico ragionato. Naples: Edizioni T&M.

Garton, C. 1972. Personal Aspects of the Roman Theatre. Toronto: Hakkert. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Gigante, L.M. 1980. “A Study of Perspective from the Representations of Architectural Forms in Greek Classical and Hellenistic Painting.” Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Gros, P. 2008. “The Theory and Practice of Perspective in Vitruvius’s De architectura.” In Perspective, Projections and Design Technologies of Architectural Representation, edited by M. Carpo and F. Lemerle, 5–18. London and New York: Routledge. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Hales, S. 2003. The Roman House and Social Identity. Cambridge: University Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Haselberger, L. 2008. “Rediscovering the Architecture of Alexandria.” Review of The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 B.C. to A.D. 700, by J. McKenzie. JRA 21: 703–12. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Heinrich, E. 1997. “Bemerkungen zur Maltechnik von Wandmalereien des Zweiten Stils in Pompeji und Rom.” In Roman Wall Painting: Materials, Techniques, Analysis and Conservation. Proceedings of the International Workshop, Fribourg 7–9 March 1996, edited by H. Béarat, M. Fuchs, M. Maggetti, and D. Paunier, 215–22. Fribourg, Switzerland: Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography.

Jacopi, I. 2008. La casa di Augusto: Le pitture. Milan: Electa. (Will provide a suitable chapter)

Jung, F. 1984. “Gebaute Bilder.” AntK 27:72–122. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Kellum, B. 1994. "The Construction of Landscape in Augustan Rome: The Garden Room at the Villa ad Gallinas." ArtB 76 (2): 211-224. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3046020)

Kern, G.J. 1938. “Das jahreszeiten Mosaik von Sentinum und die Skenographie bei Vitruv.” AA: cols. 245–63.

Keuls, E. 1978. Plato and Greek Painting. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 5. Leiden: Brill. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Klar, L. 2006. “The Origins of the Roman Scaenae Frons and the Architecture of Triumphal Games in the Second Century B.C.” In Representations of War in Ancient Rome, edited by S. Dillon and K. Welch, 162–83. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Knorr, W. 1991. “On the Principle of Linear Perspective in Euclid’s Optics.” Centaurus 34: 193–210. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Kuttner, A. 1993. Review of Aedificiorum figurae: Untersuchungen zu den Architekturdarstellungen des frühen zweiten Stils, by R. Tybout. JRA 6:341–47. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Laurence, R. and A. Wallace-Hadrill. 1991. Domestic Space in the Roman World. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplemental Series Number 22. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Leach, E. 1993. "Patrons, Painters, and Patterns: The Anonymity of Romano-Campanian Painting and the Transition from the Second to the Third Style." In E. D'Ambra, Ed. Roman Art In Context: An Anthology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Reprint of Leach, E. 1982. "Patrons, Painters, and Patterns." In B. Gold, Ed. Literary and Artistic Patronage in Ancient Rome. Austin: University of Texas Press.) (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

---. 2004. The Social Life of Painting in Ancient Rome and on the Bay of Naples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Lehmann, P. 1953. Roman Wall Paintings from Boscoreale in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Monographs on Archaeology and Fine Arts 5. Cambridge, Mass.: Archaeological Institute of America. (Securing access: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.04011)

Lephas, P. 1998. “On Vitruvius’ Concept of Scaenographia.” NumAntCl 27: 261–73. (Unavailable) (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Ling, R. 1991. Roman Painting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 2009. “Roman Art in Its Social Context.” Review of The Social History of Roman Art, by P. Stewart. JRA 22: 601–7. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Little, A.M.G. 1936. “Scaenographia.” ArtB 18(3): 407–18. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3045638)

———. 1937. “Perspective and Scene Painting.” ArtB 19(3): 487–95. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3045694)

———. 1971. Roman Perspective Painting and the Ancient Stage. Kennebunk, Maine: Star Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Maiuri, A. 1931. La villa dei misteri. 2 vols. Rome: La Libreria dello Stato. (Will provide a suitable chapter)

Mazzoleni, D., and U. Pappalardo. 2004. Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. (Beautifully illustrated volume with all major domi, and it was published recently) (Should provide a suitable chapter.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987-1988. "The Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series 45 (3): 17-36 (Beautifully illustrated article) (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3269140)

Meyer, R. 2010. “The Conservation of the Frescoes from Boscoreale in the Metropolitan Museum.” BMMA 67(4): 33–46. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Mikocki, T. 1990. La perspective dans l’art romain. Studia antiqua 7. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Uniwersystetu Warszawskiego.

Miller, S. 1993. The Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Morgan, M., trans. 1960. Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture. New York: Dover Publications. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Panofsky, E. 1927. “Die Perspektive als ‘symbolische Form.’” Vorträge des Bibliothek Warburg 1924–1925: 258–330. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 1960. Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art. 2 vols. Figura 10. Copenhagen: Russak. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 1997. Perspective as Symbolic Form. Translated by C.S. Wood. New York: Zone Books. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Pappalardo, U. 2009. The Splendor of Roman Wall Painting. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Pollitt, J.J. 1974. The Ancient View of Greek Art: Criticism, History, and Terminology. Yale Publications in the History of Art 25. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Pugliese Carratelli, G., and I. Baldassarre, eds. 1990–2003. Pompei: Pitture e mosaici. 11 vols. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Rawson, E. 1991. “Theatrical Life in Republican Rome and Italy.” In Roman Culture and Society: Collected Papers, by E. Rawson, 468–87. Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press and Oxford University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Richter, G.M.A. 1937. “Perspective, Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance.” In Scritti in onore di Bartolomeo Nogara: Rac- colti in occasione del suo LXX anno, edited by R. Paribeni, 381–88. Vatican City. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 1955. Ancient Italy: A Study of the Interrelations of Its Peoples as Shown in Their Arts. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 1970. Perspective in Greek and Roman Art. London and New York: Phaidon. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Rizzo, G. 1936. Le pitture della “Casa dei Grifi” (Palatino). Monumenti della pittura antica scoperti in Italia 3(1). Rome: La Libreria dello stato.

Rouveret, A. 1989. Histoire et imaginaire de la peinture ancienne (Ve siècle av. J.-C. -Ier siècle ap. J.-C.). BÉFAR 274. Rome: École Française de Rome.

Rowland, I.D., trans. 1999. Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Rumpf, A. 1947. “Classical and Post-Classical Greek Painting.” JHS 67:10–21. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/626777)

Scagliarini Corlàita, D. 1974–1976. “Spazio e decorazione nella pittura pompeiana.” Palladio 23–25:3–44.

Schnyder, R. 1962. “Zur Entdeckung der wissenschaftlichen Perspektive in der Antike.” ZSchwArch 22:143–57.

Schofield, R., trans. 2009. Vitruvius: On Architecture. New York: Penguin Group. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Sear, F. 2006. Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study. Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Smith, R.R.R. 1994. "Spear-won Land at Boscoreale: on the royal paintings of a Roman villa." JRA 7: 100-128. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

*Stinson, P. 2011. “Perspective Systems in Roman Second Style Wall Painting.” AJA 115 (3): 403-426. (Ask me for a copy)

Strocka, V.M. 1991. Casa del Labirinto. Tübingen: E. Wasmuth. (Will provide a suitable chapter)

**———. 2007. “Domestic Decoration: Painting and the ‘Four Styles.’” In The World of Pompeii, edited by J. Dobbins and P. Foss, 302–22. New York: Routledge. (Available at Auraria?)

Thomas, M., and J. Clarke. 2007. “The Oplontis Project 2005–6: Observations on the Construction History of Villa A at Torre Annunziata.” JRA 17: 223–32. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 2009. “Evidence of Demolition and Remodeling at Villa A at Oplontis (Villa of Poppaea) After A.D. 45.” JRA 22: INCOMPLETE INFO. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Tybout, R.A. 1989a. Aedificiorum figurae: Untersuchungen zu den Architekturdarstellungen des frühen zweiten Stils. Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology 7. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben.

———. 1989b. “Die Perspektive bei Vitruv: Zwei Überlieferungen von scaenographia.” In Munus non ingratum: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Vitruvius’ De Architectura and the Hellenistic and Republican Architecture. Leiden, 20–23 January 1987, edited by H. Geertman and J.J. de Jong, 55–68. BABesch. Suppl. 2. Leiden: Stichting Bulletin Antieke Beschaving.

———. 2001. “Roman Wall-Painting and Social Significance.” JRA 14: 33–56. (Ask me for a copy)

Vlad Borelli, L. 1981. “Le pitture e la tecnica della conservazione.” In Pompei, 1748–1980: I tempi della documentazione, 81–7. Exhibition catalogue. Rome: Multigrafica Editrice. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Wallace-Hadrill, A. 1994. Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

———. 2008. Rome’s Cultural Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Will provide a suitable chapter, and should be at Auraria)

Wallert, A., and M. Elston. 1997. “Fragments of Roman Wall Painting in the J. Paul Getty Museum: A Preliminary Technical Investigation.” In Roman Wall Painting: Materials, Techniques, Analysis and Conservation. Proceedings of the International Workshop, Fribourg 7–9 March 1996, edited by H. Béarat, M. Fuchs, M. Maggetti, and D. Paunier, 93–104. Fribourg, Switzerland: Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Welch, K. 2006. “Domi Militiaeque: Roman Domestic Aesthetics and War Booty in the Republic.” In Representations of War in Ancient Rome, edited by S. Dillon and K. Welch, 91–161. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 2007. The Roman Amphitheatre: From Its Origins to the Colosseum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

Wesenberg, B. 1968. “Zur asymmetrischen Perspektive in der Wanddekoration des zweiten pompejanischen Stils.” MarbWPr: 102–9.

White, J. 1956. Perspective in Ancient Drawing and Painting. London: Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. (Unsuitable for Review of Scholarship)

———. 1967. The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space. 2nd ed. London: Faber and Faber. (Should provide a suitable chapter)

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the typical characteristics of Roman Second Style wall painting?
2. How was space and perspective depicted in Roman wall painting (Cfr. Stinson 2011 to start)?
3. How are figures depicted in Roman wall painting?
4. What were the typical scenes depicted in Roman wall painting?
5. How do Roman wall paintings relate to the daily life of the household?
6. What sorts of places were painted and does the decoration relate to the nature of the place? i.e. Is there a particular style, technique, subject matter for wall painting from Pompeii, the emperors' or aristocrats' homes, time periods, regions?
7. What are some of the 'problems' (things that prove compelling for scholars to discuss and those that raise contention between scholars) in the study of Roman wall painting?
8. How do the 'problems' / areas of interest fit in with the four styles of wall painting?
9. What are some of the currents or trends in scholarly discussion of Roman wall painting? (They are easy to follow if you compare sources within the same 5 year span.) How does interest and scholars' interpretations change over time?
10. Who is entirely off the wall in his or her arguments?
11. Who is very effective and convincing?
12. Who is very safe, limited, or precise in his/her discussion? (not necessarily the same thing nor a bad thing)