DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0546
THE PAINTINGS
46,
color, in the middle of which a relatively small picture is seen.
This arrangement was carried over into the fourth style, but the
conception of a pavilion frame is entirely lost sight of; the
painting is in the middle of a large panel of brilliant color,
around which the architectural framework is extended. A
Pompeian room well decorated in either of the later styles con-
tained four of these prominent paintings, in case there was no
door at the middle of one of the sides ; if a door interfered,
there were only three.
Paintings were also placed in the divisions of the wall at the
right and the left of the central panel. In Plate XI we noticed
a single figure on either side of the pavilion, but such additions
are rare in the second style. In the third style the side panels
are uniformly adorned with paintings. In Fig. 252 the small
figure in the middle of the panel at the left is a Cupid ; frequently
a flying swan is seen, or a landscape lightly sketched in mono-
chrome on the ground of the panel. Sometimes the painting is
set off by a separate frame ; if this is round, a bust is usually
represented. Groups of two figures were preferred for the side
panels of the fourth style, the favorite subject being a satyr and
a bacchante, as in Fig. 254 ; these sometimes appear as busts,
but are more often represented as floating figures.
Characteristic of the fourth style, in respect to the distribu-
tion of paintings, is the use of single figures and simple com-
positions to add life to the fantastic architectural designs in the
upper part of the wall and in the divisions between the large
panels. Here we may see satyrs and bacchantes, young girls
and solemn-visaged men with implements of sacrifice; the
figures appear in great variety of type and subject. Some-
times groups are broken up, and the elements of a mythological
scene, as that of Admetus and Alcestis, are distributed as single
figures in the architectural framework.
At the time of the eruption the fondness for pictorial repre-
sentations was increasing, and they were being introduced into
every part of the decoration, including the frieze of the main
part of the wall, the use of which in this way commenced in
the time of the third style (Fig. 252), and the stripe below,
between the main part of the wall and the base (Fig. 254);
46,
color, in the middle of which a relatively small picture is seen.
This arrangement was carried over into the fourth style, but the
conception of a pavilion frame is entirely lost sight of; the
painting is in the middle of a large panel of brilliant color,
around which the architectural framework is extended. A
Pompeian room well decorated in either of the later styles con-
tained four of these prominent paintings, in case there was no
door at the middle of one of the sides ; if a door interfered,
there were only three.
Paintings were also placed in the divisions of the wall at the
right and the left of the central panel. In Plate XI we noticed
a single figure on either side of the pavilion, but such additions
are rare in the second style. In the third style the side panels
are uniformly adorned with paintings. In Fig. 252 the small
figure in the middle of the panel at the left is a Cupid ; frequently
a flying swan is seen, or a landscape lightly sketched in mono-
chrome on the ground of the panel. Sometimes the painting is
set off by a separate frame ; if this is round, a bust is usually
represented. Groups of two figures were preferred for the side
panels of the fourth style, the favorite subject being a satyr and
a bacchante, as in Fig. 254 ; these sometimes appear as busts,
but are more often represented as floating figures.
Characteristic of the fourth style, in respect to the distribu-
tion of paintings, is the use of single figures and simple com-
positions to add life to the fantastic architectural designs in the
upper part of the wall and in the divisions between the large
panels. Here we may see satyrs and bacchantes, young girls
and solemn-visaged men with implements of sacrifice; the
figures appear in great variety of type and subject. Some-
times groups are broken up, and the elements of a mythological
scene, as that of Admetus and Alcestis, are distributed as single
figures in the architectural framework.
At the time of the eruption the fondness for pictorial repre-
sentations was increasing, and they were being introduced into
every part of the decoration, including the frieze of the main
part of the wall, the use of which in this way commenced in
the time of the third style (Fig. 252), and the stripe below,
between the main part of the wall and the base (Fig. 254);