As I said a few posts ago, I'm not going to go deep on the painting styles of Pompeii just yet, but here's a little teaser for when I do. The Fourth Style is sometimes known as the Baroque or Intricate period of Roman painting. As it was the last period of art before Vesuvius buried Pompeii (in 79 AD), it is found in many places in the Bay of Naples. Although the styles continued to evolve in other parts of the Roman Empire, by far the largest bulk of our knowledge comes from this area that was so well preserved under the tons of ashes left by the volcano.
One of the easy ways to recognize work that was done in this late style is what are sometimes called "Embroidery" style borders: simple but precise one or two colored strips with repeating elements that are usually quite abstract. Here's a few examples from my trip last summer.
 |
| "Embroidery" border in the baths area of the Villa San Marco at Stabia |
 |
| Another pattern from the same room |
 |
| corner detail from the House of the Gilded Cupids in Pompeii |
No comments:
Post a Comment