DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68307#0018
SPECIMENS FROM THE NAPLES MUSEUM.
Ancient
Frescoes.
These pictures represent various historical
scenes and mythological legends and per-
sonages , gathered from the writings of
ancient historians and poets , and though
they are frequently deficient in technical
skill, are of admirable artistic merit.
The Pompeian painters had the great
power of bringing out the essential points
of their subject, the tout ensemble of the
idea they desired to convey , by free
execution, harmonious grouping, and ease
of pose, so that we look over their errors
of perspective and hardly notice them.
The familiarity which their gladiatorial
contests gave them with the human form
and the human face in circumstances of
extreme emotion, is clearly seen in their
paintings , which thus had every chance
of being superior to those of our own
artists, whose experience is mainly derived
from professional models.
Again , the draperies worn by the an-
cients were much more graceful than those
of modern Europeans, which accounts for
the success with which the Greeks could
paint a waving garment, a thing with which
they came in contact in everyday life,
and we seldom or never see. The same
argument does not apply to landscape
painting , in which they were never suc-
cessful. They used it to decorate their
smaller rooms, to a limited extent, but the
want of perspective was fatal to success.
These pictures served to a great extent
the purpose of our books in recording the
myths with which every educated Roman
was expected to be familiar. The Museum
contains upwards of a thousand of them ,
some of which have retained their colours
admirably, though they have lain buried
in volcanic ash for eighteen hundred years.
These colours, some of which were found
unused at Pompeii, were subjected to an
analysis by Sir Humphry Davy at the
request of the Bourbon Government, and
were found to be composed of the same
materials as the pigments we use in the
present day.
Our plates will revive the recollection
of some of the best of these paintings in
the minds of those of our readers who
have visited the Museum, and the letter-
press gives , besides a description of the
picture , a summary of the legend which
it represents.
2. (Official No: 9098). Telephus fed by
the Hind. He is sucking the hind, who
turns her head to caress him. His father
Hercules, with his attributes and crowned
with ivy, stands on the right. A winged
Fame alights beside him, her head crowned
with olive, and points out Telephus to his
father. On a rock sits a majestic woman
crowned with fruits, the protecting goddess
of the forsaken boy. Near her is a basket
of grapes and pomegranates : a merry Faun
is behind her, holding a panpipe in his
hand. Hercules has at his side an eagle
and a lion. (7 ft. X 6 ft.) [Herculaneum.)
Telephus was the legendary King of Mysia and a
son of Hercules. He was exposed in his infancy
on Mount Parnassus, but his life was preserved by
Ancient
Frescoes.
These pictures represent various historical
scenes and mythological legends and per-
sonages , gathered from the writings of
ancient historians and poets , and though
they are frequently deficient in technical
skill, are of admirable artistic merit.
The Pompeian painters had the great
power of bringing out the essential points
of their subject, the tout ensemble of the
idea they desired to convey , by free
execution, harmonious grouping, and ease
of pose, so that we look over their errors
of perspective and hardly notice them.
The familiarity which their gladiatorial
contests gave them with the human form
and the human face in circumstances of
extreme emotion, is clearly seen in their
paintings , which thus had every chance
of being superior to those of our own
artists, whose experience is mainly derived
from professional models.
Again , the draperies worn by the an-
cients were much more graceful than those
of modern Europeans, which accounts for
the success with which the Greeks could
paint a waving garment, a thing with which
they came in contact in everyday life,
and we seldom or never see. The same
argument does not apply to landscape
painting , in which they were never suc-
cessful. They used it to decorate their
smaller rooms, to a limited extent, but the
want of perspective was fatal to success.
These pictures served to a great extent
the purpose of our books in recording the
myths with which every educated Roman
was expected to be familiar. The Museum
contains upwards of a thousand of them ,
some of which have retained their colours
admirably, though they have lain buried
in volcanic ash for eighteen hundred years.
These colours, some of which were found
unused at Pompeii, were subjected to an
analysis by Sir Humphry Davy at the
request of the Bourbon Government, and
were found to be composed of the same
materials as the pigments we use in the
present day.
Our plates will revive the recollection
of some of the best of these paintings in
the minds of those of our readers who
have visited the Museum, and the letter-
press gives , besides a description of the
picture , a summary of the legend which
it represents.
2. (Official No: 9098). Telephus fed by
the Hind. He is sucking the hind, who
turns her head to caress him. His father
Hercules, with his attributes and crowned
with ivy, stands on the right. A winged
Fame alights beside him, her head crowned
with olive, and points out Telephus to his
father. On a rock sits a majestic woman
crowned with fruits, the protecting goddess
of the forsaken boy. Near her is a basket
of grapes and pomegranates : a merry Faun
is behind her, holding a panpipe in his
hand. Hercules has at his side an eagle
and a lion. (7 ft. X 6 ft.) [Herculaneum.)
Telephus was the legendary King of Mysia and a
son of Hercules. He was exposed in his infancy
on Mount Parnassus, but his life was preserved by