I've been noticing lately how much mileage the Roman painters of antiquity got out of their details. Quite often, the rich decoration of the walls of the antique houses consists of nothing more than colored panels limited by filigreed edges. Of course, the central panels could be more elaborate landscapes or figure paintings, but even those are mostly small centers in large panels, and it is the refined detail of the borders that give the feeling of luxury and richness to these interiors. Here's a small gallery of images of details I took at Stabia last summer.
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| Wall around the peristyle of the Villa San Marco at Stabia. Not really that much detail on them, but what is there shows great finesse. |
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| Example of a divider based on a candelabrum style design |
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| Details such as this candelabrum supporting a garland of leaves give a rich feeling to the division of panels, with a minimum of paint and time. |
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| Clever and unrealistic architectural supports are a hallmark of the third and fourth styles, and were harshly criticized by both Vitruvius and Pliny. |
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| I don't even know what this is supposed to represent (lamp? musical instrument?) but the style is so attractive it doesn't really matter. |
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| Border with a peacock feather accent. |
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| Even when a figure panel was included on the walls (like this beautiful painting of Perseus slaying Medusa), they are often very small by comparison to the size of the panels that divide the walls. |
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