DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0547
464
POMPEII
how elaborate this intermediate decoration might become we
have already seen in the case of the house of the Vettii.
Frequently in the fourth style the lower part of the archi-
tectural framework separating two large panels appears to be
closed, as in Plate XII, by a narrow panel, above which a
painting is seen. The pictures found in these places often
represent still life. Seafights are also a favorite subject; such
may be seen in the temple of Isis, the Macellum, and one of the
rooms in the house of the Vettii. Generally on the walls of
the fourth style, wherever there is available space, we find small
pictures in great variety, the most common being landscapes,
simply painted, with the use of few colors.
It is by no means easy to make a satisfactory classification of
Pompeian paintings according to subject. Nevertheless, with a
few exceptions, they may be roughly grouped in four general
classes, mythological paintings, genre paintings, landscapes, and
still life. Most of the large and important pictures belong to
the first class. The mythological paintings will therefore be
discussed at somewhat
greater length; the
other three classes will
require only a brief
characterization.
The still-life paint-
ings represent all kinds
of meat, fish, fowl, and
fruits. According to
Vitruvius, this kind of
picture was called Xe-
nion. The reason given
for the name recalls a curious custom of ancient Greece. When
a guest, xenos, was received into a Greek home, says this writer,
he was invited to sit at the table for one day. After that pro-
visions were furnished to him uncooked, and he prepared his
own meals. A portion of unprepared victuals thus came to be
called xenion, ‘the stranger’s portion,’ and the name was after-
wards transferred to pictures in which such provisions appear.
A fruit piece, now in the Naples Museum, is shown in Fig. 255.
Fig. 255. — A fruit piece, Xenion.
POMPEII
how elaborate this intermediate decoration might become we
have already seen in the case of the house of the Vettii.
Frequently in the fourth style the lower part of the archi-
tectural framework separating two large panels appears to be
closed, as in Plate XII, by a narrow panel, above which a
painting is seen. The pictures found in these places often
represent still life. Seafights are also a favorite subject; such
may be seen in the temple of Isis, the Macellum, and one of the
rooms in the house of the Vettii. Generally on the walls of
the fourth style, wherever there is available space, we find small
pictures in great variety, the most common being landscapes,
simply painted, with the use of few colors.
It is by no means easy to make a satisfactory classification of
Pompeian paintings according to subject. Nevertheless, with a
few exceptions, they may be roughly grouped in four general
classes, mythological paintings, genre paintings, landscapes, and
still life. Most of the large and important pictures belong to
the first class. The mythological paintings will therefore be
discussed at somewhat
greater length; the
other three classes will
require only a brief
characterization.
The still-life paint-
ings represent all kinds
of meat, fish, fowl, and
fruits. According to
Vitruvius, this kind of
picture was called Xe-
nion. The reason given
for the name recalls a curious custom of ancient Greece. When
a guest, xenos, was received into a Greek home, says this writer,
he was invited to sit at the table for one day. After that pro-
visions were furnished to him uncooked, and he prepared his
own meals. A portion of unprepared victuals thus came to be
called xenion, ‘the stranger’s portion,’ and the name was after-
wards transferred to pictures in which such provisions appear.
A fruit piece, now in the Naples Museum, is shown in Fig. 255.
Fig. 255. — A fruit piece, Xenion.