The Romans

PAINTING & MOSAIC

Aeneas carries his father Anchises and leads his son Ascanius from burning Troy: copy of a wall painting from Pompeii, first century AD. (VRoma: EUR (Rome), Museum of Roman Civilization: Barbara McManus)

As far as we know, paintings were used almost exclusively to cover walls of rooms in houses. These frescoes are brightly coloured, and frequently depict scenes from Greek and Roman mythology.

Wall painting of a garden scene with fountain and birds, from Oplontis, first century AD. (VRoma: Barbara McManus)

Landscapes were employed to give the impression of picture windows, while the effect of a garden was often extended and enhanced by landscape frescoes along its boundary walls. We have still-life paintings, too, of dead game birds, fish, vegetables, and other kinds of food.

Display shelves and painting of food, from a Roman restaurant of the third century AD. (VRoma: Susan Bonvallet)

The art of mosaic seems to have originated in Babylon and was widely practised in Egypt in the third century BC. The medium spread throughout the Roman empire, and has come to represent Roman pictorial art to many who have never seen the sculptures and paintings which Italy has to show.

(VRoma: Jeremy Walker)

Mosaics were of three kinds. Opus sectile (above, in House of the Faun, Pompeii) consists of small pieces of different-coloured marble cut into various shapes and fitted together in a geometrical pattern. In opus tessellatum, the dice are square and all of the same size. In opus vermiculatum, the dice are of varied shape and size, often of minute proportions, and and are often set in wavy lines (vermiculatus means “resembling the tracks of worms”). Sometimes more complicated works were made in a studio, and transferred to the site and embedded in concrete, either as wall decorations or pavements.

Detail from a mosaic from the Aventine Hill: dancing girl with musicians. (VRoma: Vatican Museums, Rome: Barbara McManus)

Overview of this page [Ref: 6.2]

The Romans decorated their walls with paintings, and their floors with mosaics.

Notes

Links to other pages on the site:

The Classics Pages - the 'parent' site. Over 1000 pages of news, information, games and controversy about the life, literature, art and archaeology of the ancient world of Greece & Rome.

Site Map - the contents of the site as a table of contents.

Map of Italy showing places and other geographical features mentioned on this site. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group. NEW!

Gallery of illustrations used on the site. Many of the illustrations can be made larger than they are in the text by clicking on the appropriate image in the gallery. NEW!

List of maps used on the site. Maps can be enlarged when you see the magnifying glass (in some browsers).

Help on using "The Romans"

The Romans About the print version (second edition 2008), and how to order it.

Other Books by Antony Kamm

Acknowledgements - those who have contributed to the site

Email your comments or questions