Roman Painting

le 30e colloque de l'AFPMA aura lieu les vendredi 24 et samedi 25 novembre 2017 au musée départemental Arles antique à Arles.

Vous trouverez ci joint le programme de ces 30e rencontre et dans une autre rubrique la fiche d'inscription auditeur à retourner avant le 31 octobre.

This essay argues that abstract colouristic effects were favoured in the arts of ancient Rome in a manner long overlooked. Taking the wall paintings of Cubiculum B from the Villa Farnesina as a case in point, the article demonstrates that these images display an interest in interlocking planes of colour and shape that might be described as formalist. It juxtaposes this visual evidence with overlooked passages in ancient texts to explore how such effects were conceptualized in ancient Roman thought. What emerges is a model of aesthetic value that foregrounds terpnopoietic planar effects of colour and shape above those of mimetic representation – so long revered as the most important artistic practice theorized in the classical world. This paradigm of visual value is employed in relation to both figural and non-figural works alike. The absence of these surface effects in the standard narrative of classical art becomes testimony to that narrative’s limitations.

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

This paper deals with the House of Leukaktios, which has been discovered during Polish excavations at Ptolemais, Libya, in 2001– 2007. The house has almost completely preserved mosaic pavements and the plan of Graeco-Roman type with an open central court (atrium), acting as the focal point around which the rooms were arranged. The name of one of the last owners, Leukaktios, is written twice on the mosaics in the atrium and in the triclinium. The author proposes the identification of several rooms. Room 1, a triclinium, has a mosaic with the characteristic U-shaped geometric frame around a central figural panel that depicts a personification of Victory or Nike. Room 14 is identified as an andron/triclinium with a similar U-shaped version lay out of the mosaic pavement. Room 9, which is situated in front of the andron/triclinium, could be interpreted as a gyneceum. The central panel which represents Dionysos and sleeping Ariadna has a parallel from the House of Dionysos in Cyrene, where the mosaic bears a rare Greek inscription dedicated to a woman.
Room 4 is identified as a reception hall. The mosaics are homogeneous in style and belong to the last phase of the building between AD 215 and 225.

Este artigo visa debater alguns aspectos da religiosidade romana, enfatiza, sobretudo, que temas como estes não necessitam estar separados de outros assuntos da esfera humana, e que podem estar atrelados a elementos da vida cotidiana, tais como o sexo e o amor. Para tanto, evidencia-se a importância das pinturas parietais, como um interessante instrumento de análise histórica e reflexão a respeito da diversidade do passado romano.

This paper provides a preliminary outline of the wall paintings discovered 2015-2016 during the excavation in Panossas "Buissières" (Isère), in the hinterland of the Vienna and Lyon colonies. The settlement includes several residential buildings within monumental bath, workshops, warehouses and commodious buildings for the reception of travellers, interpreted as a large stopping place, established around the middle of the 1 st century BC located on the main road to Italy. The excavation of the courtyard levels of the oldest road station uncovered hundred fragments of painted plaster, which combines all the features of the second Pompeian style (fictive architectures, marble imitations, fruit garlands, miniature frieze within riders, hunt & dancers...). Originally fixed on earthwalls and spread after destruction as backfill, they indicate the presence of a reception or accommodation room that could not be located precisely. The reassembly & inventory of the fragments (in progress) have already made it possible to identify several decorative sets, probably constituting a single piece decoration. The technical and stylistic quality of the paintings, as well as the use of relatively expensive pigments (cinnabar red, aegyptian blue) raise the question of the identity of the owner and the reasons for the presence of such a luxurious decor on a rural site so far from the residential quarters of the two colonies.

Cet article offre un aperçu préliminaire des peintures murales découvertes en 2015 et 2016 dans le cadre de la fouille programmée des « Buissières » à Panossas (Isère), dans l'arrière-pays des colonies de Vienne et de Lyon. Le site comprend plusieurs bâtiments résidentiels adossés à des thermes monumentaux, des ateliers de forge, des entrepôts et une auberge, interprétés comme les équipements publics d'une grande station routière, implantée sur la voie d'Italie dès le milieu du I er s. a.C. La fouille des niveaux de cour de la première station a mis au jour plusieurs centaines de fragments d'enduits peints caractéristiques du deuxième style pompéien (architectures fictives, imitations de marbre, guirlandes d'abondance, frise miniature de cavaliers, animaux, danseuses...). Apposés sur des parois en matériaux périssables et épandues après destruction en guise de remblai, ils indiquent l'existence d'une pièce de réception ou d'hébergement qui n'a pu être localisée précisément. Le remontage et l'inventaire des fragments, en cours de réalisation, ont déjà permis d'identifier plusieurs ensembles décoratifs, probablement constitutifs d'un seul et même décor de pièce. La qualité technique et stylistique des peintures, ainsi que le recours à des pigments relativement coûteux (rouge cinabre, bleu de fritte), soulèvent la question de l'identité du commanditaire et des motifs qui ont présidé à leur mise en oeuvre, sur un site rural aussi éloigné des quartiers résidentiels des deux colonies. Mots-clés : Gaule romaine, peintures murales, deuxième style pompéien, station routière, Vienne, Lyon.

John Cabot University’s Master of Arts (MA) in Art History fosters professional mastery of the materials and methods of art history with emphasis on first-hand research in the museums, monuments, and archaeological sites of Rome. The degree can be completed in approximately fifteen months of full-time study.

The program has a dual focus: the acquisition of technical skills for primary research; and the analysis of visual cultures of Rome and the Mediterranean from antiquity to the present, with critical perspectives on their worldwide impact. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, John Cabot University's MA is the first US-accredited graduate degree program in art history taught entirely in Rome.

Applications are currently begin accepted for Fall 2018. Application deadlines:
° Late Decision I: June 1st
° Late Decision II: July 31st (available only to applicants who do not require a visa to study in Italy)

To apply: http://www.johncabot.edu/master-art-history/default.aspx
For further information: graduateadmissions@johncabot.edu

This paper seeks to synthesize descriptions of Roman infantry in the literary sources, in particular Polybius 18.30, with visual depictions of Roman soldiers in combat and on parade. Arguing that select visual representations of Roman soldiers confirm Polybius’ statements that Roman heavy infantry fought, at least part of the time, in an open order formation, it also claims that the relative positioning of soldier pairs in many examples of Roman military artwork reveals the tactical mechanism of transition from a defensive close-order to an open order spacing, simply by having every other man (or infantry file) step forward to create a matrix of soldiers arranged in a checkerboard formation.

In the 1st century BC most artworks and valuable objects of craftsmanship were acquired for Roman private and public galleries
as war trophies and from thieving and plunder in the aftermath of war. Octavian bought a famous painting of Aphrodite by
Apelles from the citizens of Cos in lieu of their outstanding taxes (Templum Divi Iulii). The painting must have been extorted
from them through blackmail. Octavian also confiscated the chryselephantine statue of Athena Alea in Tegea, the work of
Endoios (Forum Augusti). In 29/30 BC Octavian confiscated the statue of Zeus by Myron in Samos (the Capitol Hill). Octavian’s
decree on the restoration of the works of art which had fallen victim to wartime looting sounds like an empty propaganda slogan
(RG 4.24). It is not clear how many of the artworks amassed by Augustus in Rome came from his spoils of war, and how many
were purchased and recirculated from the older Roman stock of artworks which were already in Rome when Augustus came to
power. The legendary treasures of the Ptolemies in Alexandria and the ancient cultural heritage of the Egyptian chora also fell
into Octavian’s hands. The royal art collections of Alexandria boasted carefully selected works of the most valued Greek masters
(Nikias of Athens, Apelles, Antiphilus). Pliny the Elder tells us outright that Hyakinthos by Nicias of Athens was confiscated by
Octavian in Alexandria (Templum Divi Augusti). The Egyptian spoils also included works of the indigenous Egyptian and African
art, as well as works of the Orientalist Greek-Egyptian art (the statue of Janus, four obsidian elephants, the monumental statue
of the Nile, two obelisks from Heliopolis). Pliny the Elder’s art catalogues mark the grim route of robbery and destruction traced
by the Augustan armies.

Pour ce premier numéro de 2022, Archéologia vous propose de découvrir l’immense puzzle des enduits peints de la maison de la Harpiste mise au jour à Arles sur le site de la Verrerie. Ce long et minutieux travail est en train de bouleverser nos connaissances sur le développement de cette ville antique.

By Agneta Freccero
Pub. Year: 2018
Publisher: L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER
Series: Studi e Ricerche del Parco Archeologico di Pompei, 37
ISBN: 978-88-913-1651-6
Paperback
Pag.: 164, 100 ill. B/N, 1 ill. Col.
Size: 24 x 28 cm

Il volume di Agneta Freccero analizza gli apparati decorativi sia in stucco che ad affresco da una prospettiva diversa rispetto a quella degli altri volumi editi precedentemente nella Collana di Studi e Ricerche di Pompei, e che esula da un approccio legato solo allo studio delle officine e dello stile per entrare nella materia prima costitutiva degli stessi. L' autrice parte infatti dall' analisi dell' unità minima che compone lo stucco e la pellicola pittorica per risalire, attraverso un percorso di sintesi dal particolare al generale, ad una seriazione crono-tipologica da confrontare con la tradizionale, e ormai in parte superata, divisione della pittura pompeiana in quattro stili, sempre di pari passo con lo studio delle tecniche artigianali di cui l' impiego e la lavorazione della materia prima costituiscono una delle poche tracce tangibili. Per raggiungere questi risultati l' autrice ricorre a diversi tipi di analisi sia minero-petrografiche, con sezioni sottili dei campioni di stucco e delle preparazioni delle pitture, che chimiche con difrattometria a raggi X, spettroscopia FTIR e in alcuni casi con microscopio elettronico a scansione (SEM).

Il volume affronta anche il tema della conservazione con una riflessione sulle tecniche e i materiali impiegati negli scorsi decenni per la tutela degli affreschi e degli stucchi delle domus pompeiane, con una overview che si ferma agli interventi precedenti all' azione del Grande Progetto Pompei. E su questo tema ora il Parco Archeologico di Pompei, grazie a quel grande laboratorio interdisciplinare non solo di restauro ma anche di ricerca che è stato, e continua ad essere, il Grande Progetto Pompei, è riuscito ad elaborare delle linee guida e degli interventi esemplari che si pongono come paradigma per i futuri interventi nel sito.

Non possiamo che apprezzare questo studio per lo sguardo nuovo a temi, quali quello degli stucchi e degli affreschi pompeiani, spesso studiati per la loro qualità estetica e per il portato semanticamente rilevante e molto meno per quanto riguarda la materia prima impiegata per dare forma a questi significati.

This paper proposes a new interpretation of the famous fourth century A.D. mosaic of the “Seven Sages” and the “Anger of Achilles”. Discovered in Merida in 1982, this mosaic was previously analyzed and interpreted by J.M. Aharez Martinez and M.-H. Quet. The occurrence of these two iconographic themes in one mosaic tends the author to compare the description of the “Anger of Achilles” in the first book of the Iliad with the maxims of the Seven Sages of Greece. The study of both written and iconographic sources shows that he image of the “Anger of Achilles” evokes allusively the moral precepts of the Seven Sages. The mosaic constitutes therefore an example of the practical use of “artificiosa memoria “.

Desde o final do século XIX até meados do XX, os estudos clássicos foram permeados de conceitos racistas e excludentes, ideias de superioridade e dominação eram muito comuns entre os estudiosos. Buscando uma relação imediata com o passado e formando uma linha de tempo ininterrupta e teleológica, os estudiosos do mundo clássico, durante os períodos imperialistas e totalitários, uniram antigo e moderno, misturando-os de acordo com os interesses políticos nacionalistas e transformando a Antiguidade,principalmente romana, em um espelho de suas aspirações ideológicas. O mesmo ocorreu do âmbito da religiosidade romana, em que as literaturas canônicas, sobretudo as que tratam do Império Romano, preponderavam sempre às lembranças de um passado permeado por feitos políticos e militares, delegando à marginalidade os elementos da vida cotidiana e do ordinário, essenciais para compreender a construção das experiências humanas. Partindo desses princípios, nossa investigação se concentrará nas maneiras como se dão as expressões religiosas e as suas especificidades na cidade de Pompeia, focando, sobretudo, na deusa do amor, Vênus.Desse modo, uma releitura da relação entre amor, erotismo e religiosidade se torna necessária, na medida em que Roma antiga, por muitos anos, foi filtrada pelos olhos dos modernos historiadores, imbuídos de uma visão judaico-cristã na qual se considera as esferas do sexual e do religioso como separadas. Assim, os exemplos de pinturas destacadas em contextos materiais distintos, em especial no interior de casas espalhadas por Pompeia, nos desafiam a desvincular sexualidade romana pagã da noção cristã de pecado e reinseri-la no universo religioso para uma percepção menos anacrônica da experiência romana em geral e pompeiana em particular.

Palavras-Chave:
Usos do passado, pinturas romanas, Vênus, religiosidade e erotismo.

L’opera traccia un compendio globale della collezione di pitture ercolanesi e pompeiane del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, pubblicato in concomitanza con la riapertura della sezione che li custodisce e allo stato degli studi in data di pubblicazione. Il lavoro giunge al termine d’un lungo processo di adeguamento della struttura e riallestimento di queste testimonianze superstiti della pittura antica.
La pittura pompeiana è un testo strutturato in diciassette capitoli, cui segue il catalogo suddiviso in dodici, ciascun riservato a un ambiente del Museo tra quelli che espongono attualmente le pitture: Sale dalla LXVI alla LXXV, LXXVII e LXXVIII. Ogni sezione dell’opera è riccamente illustrata con fotografie a colori di L. Spina.

The research on the decorations of the area of the sanctuary is the result of a field project on the temple of Venus at
Pompeii, supervised by Emmanuele Curti, of the “Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia di Matera”.
The analysis of the pictorial remains (in situ and from the excavation) has permitted partial reconstruction of two
decorative systems and to recognize at least one more. Such systems are related to the first monumental phase of the
sanctuary of Venus.
Toward the 130/120 B.C., the sacred area was redefined following the new models of ‘Hellenistic’ sanctuaries, in the
context of the renovation of the public areas of Pompeii. The complex is structured with an axial temple surrounded
by porticos and developed over two terraces. A peculiarity of the sanctuary is the presence, on the lower terrace and on
axis with the temple, of a platform (presumably with the altar), delimited on the western side by a court marked by
the presence of canals and, on the eastern side, by a space or room with a cistern. A few decades later this complex was
completely destroyed and obliterated (probably under the Sullan re-foundation).
The decorative schemes are partially restorable and there are unfortunately missing elements that can provide a full
evidence of the decorations, such as the treatment of the angles of the walls, useful to assign the decorations to one of
the ‘Laidlaw types’.
Nevertheless, the single elements of two systems are very similar to decorations found in other Italian and, above all,
Pompeian contexts. The proximity to some Pompeian walls and the ‘attitude of verticality’, typical of the Italic decorations,
allows us to date the decorations of the temple of Venus in the phase in which the so-called Pompeian First
Style has completed its evolution.
In this context we have to insert the exceptional discovery of the ceiling, which reproduces wooden ceiling; it does not
have any parallel in the Pompeian First Style decorative system.

The high-quality portraits of the mosaic dome at Centcelles provide an important clue for the dating of the mosaics. The dominus portrait seems to date in the Constantine era due to its iconographical parallels to three-dimensional porträts of
this time – in the second third of the 4th century, at the latest. In iconographic terms, it follows one tendency of the private porträt at the beginning of the 4th century. The tendency consisted of continuing the ›soldier-emporer‹ iconography
of the 3rd century, whereas the imperial porträts with Constantine developed its own visual, distinctive image type. For this reason, the portrait of the master of hunt at Centcelles can be described as an important and early example for the give-up of the so-called ›Zeitgesicht‹, also in two-dimensional technique. The female portraits from the dome’s upper panels C3 and C5 can also be added to the cultural historical context of the female portraits’ development in the 4th century. The surprising realistic physiognomies of the fragmentary preserved heads are really typical examples of Roman female portraits since the 4th century. Age and maturity were important subjects for these portraits and owned a content quality, too. In accordance with the literary and epigraphic sources age and maturity stand for dignity, status and social prestige in Late Antiquity. From the last one the female representatives of the Roman aristocracy during the 4th and the 5th century mostly benefit. The scenes in which the portraits as part of the large-size figures were imbedded stress the representative and social distinctive character of the images.

Fouillé à la fin des années 80, le site de la maison au Grand Péristyle a livré de nombreux éléments de décors peints et stuqués partiellement étudiés en 1993. Entièrement repris lors d’une étude récente, ils livrent une image plus précise du programme décoratif de cette riche domus jouxtant le forum. Qu’il s’agisse d’un riche décor à tableaux mythologiques et fins édicules, d’un surprenant ensemble à zone inférieure stuquée polychrome, d’un plafond également en relief ou d’un décor utilisant avec largesse le rouge vermillon, tous signent le travail d’ateliers qualifiés intervenant dans une des plus luxueuses demeures de la cité. D’autres ensembles plus modestes révèlent le soin apporté aux pièces privées ou annexes.

in : J. Boislève, A. Dardenay et F. Monier (éds.). - Peintures murales et stucs d'époque romaine,études toichographologiques : Actes du 28e colloque de l'AFPMA, 20-21 novembre 2015, Paris, Ausonius, Pictor, collection de l'AFPMA, 6, Bordeaux, p. 21-38.

in : J. Boislève, A. Dardenay et F. Monier (éd.). - Peintures murales et stucs d'époque romaine, révéler l'architecture par l'étude du décor : Actes du 26e colloque de l'AFPMA, 16-17 novembre 2012, Strasbourg, Ausonius, Pictor, collection de l'AFPMA, 3, Bordeaux. p. 157-178.

""The author analyses the mythological subjects known from the funerary paintings of the Near East. He is interested principally in the meaning and the message which these representations conveyed. He studies the interpretative problems of funerary iconography in terms of the principles that we encounter in the iconography of roman art - principles which are confirmed by Artemidorus of Ephesus (or Artemidorus of Daldis), a Greek author of the Antonine period, in his manuel Key to Dreams (Onirocriticon). This approach has never previously been attempted. To support his argument, he refers to numerouse monuments of funerary art as well as to a series of inscriptions adorning the monuments in Roman necrpoleis.

L’auteur analyse les sujets mythologiques connus de la peinture funéraire au Proche-Orient. Il s’intéresse principalement au sens et au message que ces représentations portaient. Il étudie la problématique de la sémantique de l’iconographie funéraire en fonction des principes qu’on retrouve dans l’iconographie plastique et qu’Artémidore d’Ephese (soit Artémidore de Daldis), auteur grec de l’époque antonine, confirme dans son manuel La clef de songes (Onirocriticon). Cette démarche n’avait jusqu’alors, jamais été entreprise. Pour appuyer son raisonnement, l’auteur se réfère à des nombreux monuments d’art funéraire, ainsi qu’à une série d’inscriptions ornant des monuments des nécropoles romaines.
See also: M.T. Olszewski, Artémidore, mythologie et symbolique funéraire, Archeologia (Warsaw) 52, 2001, pp. 39-60.
M.T. Olszewski, Le statut de l'image selon Artémidore et l'art romain, in: Morlier, H. ed., IXe Colloque international pour l'étude de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Roma 5.11.2001-10.11.2001, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome 352/2, Rome 2005, pp. 859-880.""