Pompeii in Color: The Life of Roman Painting

Pompeii in Color: The Life of Roman Painting
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Part I
Summary
Pompeii in color gallery exhibit is a complement to the exhibition at N.Y.U.'s Institute of the ancient world. It offers the opportunity to learn in detail about ancient paintings, tastes, and values of roman painters and the techniques used by the Roman artists. There is extensive knowledge of the roman home through the exhibit, including the look, layout, and general life of a Pompeian home. Further review is given to the artwork and myths that inspired the painting at the time and the painters’ methods, tools, and pigments. Compared to other exhibits seen earlier, the exhibit was detailed and organized (Pompeii in Color). The organization of art was not only detailed but chronological. The many Pompeii artwork is tied together, making them feel part of a larger whole. This exhibition, unlike others, is special because it puts together diverse Pompeii art making it much easier to draw visualized connections.
Generally, the detailed art offered an interesting insight into what life was like in the roman empire, particularly the Pompeii. What I found interesting is that the mosaic in Pompeii drawings depicts different scenes and themes ranging from war, sports, sex, and religion. I realize that art was a critical element in the roman society and would love to know how Pompeii art influenced culture in the roman empire. However, it was interesting to learn about tools and pigments used by different artists in the Pompeii. Ideally, plumb bobs, compasses, and set squares. I noted that most fresco painters began their painting after sketching the intended image on the wall and then used the grid to scale up their image sizes. Plumb lines and a compass were used to position design elements accurately.
Roman Painting Techniques
The exhibits indicate that ancient Romans decorated and designed their art with the painting technique known as fresco. Fresco painting refers to a method of painting that was water-based pigments on fresh plaster and often on wall surfaces. The color used in fresco paintings was made by grinding dry pigments (Joyce, 1979). There are four styles of Pompeian painting styles namely incrustation style, architectural style, ornate style, and intricate style. Incrustation painting or masonry painting was the type of painting that simulated coating of frescos similar to inlaid materials of stones applied on a wall surface. An example of the masonry style is the Samnite villa from Herculaneum. Secondly, the architectural style gave meaning to construction by recreating the depth effect in interior buildings. Examples of architectural style are cubiculum (bedroom), Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, 50–40 B.C.E. Ornate as the third Pompeian style was architectural but rather an incorporation of more advanced fantastic and stylized columns that only existed in imagined spaces.
An example was Villa Agrippa Postmus (Barrow, 2015). The final style was intricate, typically a combination of the first three styles. An example of this style was the Xion Room, House of the Vetii, Pompeii, 1st century C.E. In their paintings, Romans used different types of pigments, including Ocher/yellow (earth pi...