DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61387#0168
96
THE BUI NS OF POMPEII.
man or apprentice executed the frames or borders which surround them,
the architectural pieces, and other ornaments of the like kind.
We will now proceed to examine the Pompeian paintings with regard to
the place which they should occupy considered as works of art.
Although the wall-paintings of Pompeii are almost the only ones that can
convey to us any idea of Greek art, it must at the same time be regarded as
a very imperfect idea. They are the productions only of a small provincial
town, and that, too, at a period when the art of painting was already on the
decline. Nevertheless, after making these allowances, they have served not
only to correct, but also to elevate, our ideas of ancient painting, as is evident
from a comparison of what has been written on that subject before and after
their discovery; and it is now pretty generally allowed that both with regard
to subject, composition, drawing, and colouring, it is of a higher grade than
had been previously supposed.
Allowance must further be made for the circumstance that Pompeian
painting, in the mass, can be regarded only as decorative painting. The
larger mythological compositions and the pictures of domestic life, or genre
pictures, might indeed by some be regarded as specimens of a higher and
more substantial kind of art, and as having a loftier ideal character. In sup-
port of this view it might be urged that the painted frames which surround
these compositions and separate them from the other wall decorations, as well
as the circumstance that some of them are let into the walls, tend to show
that they are pictures, in the stricter sense of the word, as opposed to mere
decorations. And it appears to us that if they can be shown to have been
copies, or even free imitations, of paintings by celebrated masters, as we
think some of them undoubtedly were, this circumstance must also tend to
add to their ideal character. As a general remark, however, it is no doubt
true that the wall-paintings of Pompeii are essentially decorative, and thus
even the pictures of a better and higher class would be made subservient to
this purpose. Hence we may account for exaggerated voluptuousness, frequent
hastiness of execution, and other defects. At the same time, regarding them
in this decorative character, we must not overlook their excellent adaptation
to the purpose intended; the cheerfulness and airiness which counteracted the
darkness and narrowness of their framing; the inexhaustible wealth of orna-
ment; the good selection and suitable grouping of objects; the excellent adap-
tation of the ornaments to the size and purposes of the room, by making them
sometimes richer, sometimes simpler, now in darker colours, now in lighter, and
THE BUI NS OF POMPEII.
man or apprentice executed the frames or borders which surround them,
the architectural pieces, and other ornaments of the like kind.
We will now proceed to examine the Pompeian paintings with regard to
the place which they should occupy considered as works of art.
Although the wall-paintings of Pompeii are almost the only ones that can
convey to us any idea of Greek art, it must at the same time be regarded as
a very imperfect idea. They are the productions only of a small provincial
town, and that, too, at a period when the art of painting was already on the
decline. Nevertheless, after making these allowances, they have served not
only to correct, but also to elevate, our ideas of ancient painting, as is evident
from a comparison of what has been written on that subject before and after
their discovery; and it is now pretty generally allowed that both with regard
to subject, composition, drawing, and colouring, it is of a higher grade than
had been previously supposed.
Allowance must further be made for the circumstance that Pompeian
painting, in the mass, can be regarded only as decorative painting. The
larger mythological compositions and the pictures of domestic life, or genre
pictures, might indeed by some be regarded as specimens of a higher and
more substantial kind of art, and as having a loftier ideal character. In sup-
port of this view it might be urged that the painted frames which surround
these compositions and separate them from the other wall decorations, as well
as the circumstance that some of them are let into the walls, tend to show
that they are pictures, in the stricter sense of the word, as opposed to mere
decorations. And it appears to us that if they can be shown to have been
copies, or even free imitations, of paintings by celebrated masters, as we
think some of them undoubtedly were, this circumstance must also tend to
add to their ideal character. As a general remark, however, it is no doubt
true that the wall-paintings of Pompeii are essentially decorative, and thus
even the pictures of a better and higher class would be made subservient to
this purpose. Hence we may account for exaggerated voluptuousness, frequent
hastiness of execution, and other defects. At the same time, regarding them
in this decorative character, we must not overlook their excellent adaptation
to the purpose intended; the cheerfulness and airiness which counteracted the
darkness and narrowness of their framing; the inexhaustible wealth of orna-
ment; the good selection and suitable grouping of objects; the excellent adap-
tation of the ornaments to the size and purposes of the room, by making them
sometimes richer, sometimes simpler, now in darker colours, now in lighter, and