DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0124
96 History of Garden Art
the time of Augustus a certain Tatius or Scudius was the very first to paint pictures of
villas on the walls, with shelters, opera topiaria, groves, woods, hills, fishponds, Euripus
rivers, the sea-beach, and all manner of varieties of the garden or seaside villa, the
remark only holds good of Roman times. This artist, a man of note, had no doubt painted
FIG. 6l. SANCTUARY, CHAPEL, AND TREE—FROM A WALL-PAINTING AT POMPEII
the imperial villas of Augustus, but these pictures are not instructive about the style of
architecture, and rather show the design of the gardens, and still more their decoration.
At that time undoubtedly Egyptian taste prevailed, and the art of gardening had been
furthered by the incorporation of Egypt as a Roman province. Anyhow the name "Nilus"
was used for an artificial canal in Cicero's time, and that is only explicable if something of
an Egyptian look had been given to its surroundings. This is supplied by the accessories
shown in the wall-paintings: the Nile is strewn with the lotus, encircled with palms, and
made lively with pygmies and crocodiles; round about there are Egyptian sanctuaries.
the time of Augustus a certain Tatius or Scudius was the very first to paint pictures of
villas on the walls, with shelters, opera topiaria, groves, woods, hills, fishponds, Euripus
rivers, the sea-beach, and all manner of varieties of the garden or seaside villa, the
remark only holds good of Roman times. This artist, a man of note, had no doubt painted
FIG. 6l. SANCTUARY, CHAPEL, AND TREE—FROM A WALL-PAINTING AT POMPEII
the imperial villas of Augustus, but these pictures are not instructive about the style of
architecture, and rather show the design of the gardens, and still more their decoration.
At that time undoubtedly Egyptian taste prevailed, and the art of gardening had been
furthered by the incorporation of Egypt as a Roman province. Anyhow the name "Nilus"
was used for an artificial canal in Cicero's time, and that is only explicable if something of
an Egyptian look had been given to its surroundings. This is supplied by the accessories
shown in the wall-paintings: the Nile is strewn with the lotus, encircled with palms, and
made lively with pygmies and crocodiles; round about there are Egyptian sanctuaries.