DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0517
440
POMPEII
Two portrait busts of distinguished men, which evidently
belong together, were found in another house, laid one side.
In the Naples Museum they bear the names of Decimus Brutus
and of Pompey, but both identifications are erroneous; the fea-
tures in neither case agree with the representations upon coins.
The faces, as shown by the physiognomy and the treatment of
the hair, are those of Romans of the end of the Republic or the
beginning of the Empire. Recently a new identification has
been proposed which has much
in its favor. It rests chiefly
upon the resemblance of one
of the busts to the mosaic por-
trait of Virgil, discovered in
1896 at Susa, in Africa. The
full, round face of the other
agrees very well with what we
know of the appearance of
Horace. It may be that we
have here a pair of poets, the
two most prominent of the Au-
gustan Age.
Frequently the gardens of
the peristyles, as those of the
houses of the Vettii and of Lu-
cretius, were profusely adorned
with sculptures of all kinds.
We find in them statuettes,
herms, small figures of animals,
and diminutive groups. Fig-
ures derived from the myths of the bacchic cycle, Bacchus,
Silenus, satyrs, and bacchantes, are particularly common. The
artistic value is slight; among the best examples is the double
bust, with Bacchus on one side and a bacchante on the other,
found in the garden of the house of the Vettii (Fig. 247).
Characteristic among these sculptures are the figures designed
for the adornment of fountains ; a number of them are exhibited
in the Museum at Naples. Bacchic figures are met with most
frequently. A good example is the marble Silenus in the garden
Fig. 247. — Double bust, Bacchus and bac-
chante. Garden of the house of the Vettii.
POMPEII
Two portrait busts of distinguished men, which evidently
belong together, were found in another house, laid one side.
In the Naples Museum they bear the names of Decimus Brutus
and of Pompey, but both identifications are erroneous; the fea-
tures in neither case agree with the representations upon coins.
The faces, as shown by the physiognomy and the treatment of
the hair, are those of Romans of the end of the Republic or the
beginning of the Empire. Recently a new identification has
been proposed which has much
in its favor. It rests chiefly
upon the resemblance of one
of the busts to the mosaic por-
trait of Virgil, discovered in
1896 at Susa, in Africa. The
full, round face of the other
agrees very well with what we
know of the appearance of
Horace. It may be that we
have here a pair of poets, the
two most prominent of the Au-
gustan Age.
Frequently the gardens of
the peristyles, as those of the
houses of the Vettii and of Lu-
cretius, were profusely adorned
with sculptures of all kinds.
We find in them statuettes,
herms, small figures of animals,
and diminutive groups. Fig-
ures derived from the myths of the bacchic cycle, Bacchus,
Silenus, satyrs, and bacchantes, are particularly common. The
artistic value is slight; among the best examples is the double
bust, with Bacchus on one side and a bacchante on the other,
found in the garden of the house of the Vettii (Fig. 247).
Characteristic among these sculptures are the figures designed
for the adornment of fountains ; a number of them are exhibited
in the Museum at Naples. Bacchic figures are met with most
frequently. A good example is the marble Silenus in the garden
Fig. 247. — Double bust, Bacchus and bac-
chante. Garden of the house of the Vettii.