DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0383
THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII 323
mence with those in the large room at the right of the peristyle,
which are the most interesting of the entire series.
This apartment (7) may have been used either as a dining
room or as a sitting room. The scheme of decoration is indi-
cated in Fig. 156, which presents the
division of the end wall; the side
walls had five large panels instead of
three.
The ground of the base is black.
The stripe separating the base from
the main part of the wall is red, ex-
cept the small sections (4, 4), which
have a black ground; the vertical
stripes between the panels are black,
and the same color appears in parts of
the border above. The ground of the
panels is cinnabar red. The paintings
Fig. 156. — Scheme of wall division
in the large room opening on
the peristyle.
in the central panels have not been preserved; in those at the
sides (2) are floating figures. The upper division of the wall (6)
is filled with an architectural framework upon a white back-
ground, against which many figures, skilfully disposed, stand out
with unusual distinctness.
The floating figures in the side panels differ from those found
elsewhere in the choice of subjects. Here instead of satyrs and
bacchantes we find gods and heroes. In one panel is Poseidon
with a female figure, perhaps Amymone ; in another, Apollo with
Daphne. Bacchus and Ariadne also appear, and Perseus with
Andromeda.
The figures in the upper part of the wall at the end of the
room belong to the bacchic cycle, — Silenus, satyrs, and bac-
chantes. Of those at the sides, one, near the right-hand corner,
represents a poet with a roll of papyrus against his chin, the
open manuscript case, scrinuim, at his feet; opposite him sits a
maiden clothed in white, drinking in his words. A comic mask
on the left wall seems to suggest a writer of comedy, and the
scene reminds one of the letter of Glycera to Menander, in
Alciphron: “ What is Athens without Menander, what Menander
without Glycera ? Without me, who make ready your masks, who
mence with those in the large room at the right of the peristyle,
which are the most interesting of the entire series.
This apartment (7) may have been used either as a dining
room or as a sitting room. The scheme of decoration is indi-
cated in Fig. 156, which presents the
division of the end wall; the side
walls had five large panels instead of
three.
The ground of the base is black.
The stripe separating the base from
the main part of the wall is red, ex-
cept the small sections (4, 4), which
have a black ground; the vertical
stripes between the panels are black,
and the same color appears in parts of
the border above. The ground of the
panels is cinnabar red. The paintings
Fig. 156. — Scheme of wall division
in the large room opening on
the peristyle.
in the central panels have not been preserved; in those at the
sides (2) are floating figures. The upper division of the wall (6)
is filled with an architectural framework upon a white back-
ground, against which many figures, skilfully disposed, stand out
with unusual distinctness.
The floating figures in the side panels differ from those found
elsewhere in the choice of subjects. Here instead of satyrs and
bacchantes we find gods and heroes. In one panel is Poseidon
with a female figure, perhaps Amymone ; in another, Apollo with
Daphne. Bacchus and Ariadne also appear, and Perseus with
Andromeda.
The figures in the upper part of the wall at the end of the
room belong to the bacchic cycle, — Silenus, satyrs, and bac-
chantes. Of those at the sides, one, near the right-hand corner,
represents a poet with a roll of papyrus against his chin, the
open manuscript case, scrinuim, at his feet; opposite him sits a
maiden clothed in white, drinking in his words. A comic mask
on the left wall seems to suggest a writer of comedy, and the
scene reminds one of the letter of Glycera to Menander, in
Alciphron: “ What is Athens without Menander, what Menander
without Glycera ? Without me, who make ready your masks, who