History and formationThe section devoted to the frescoes of Pompeii is on display in Rooms LXVI - LXXVIII and includes the paintings that were removed from the site from the mid eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century and, in some exceptional cases, during the twentieth century, leaving the original walls incomplete. The display is organised both on a chronological and thematic basis, which certain particularly significant complexes, such as the House of the Fatal Love (IX, 5, 18) and the House of the Tragic Poet (VI, 8, 5) have been contextualised. The museum’s collection of paintings represents an exceptional insight into Roman painting, its development and variety, beginning from the so-called Second Style, since the paintings of the First Style, which did not depict figures, were never removed for museum collections.
Route The Second Style, although present in urban dwellings, is best represented by the villas in the ager Pompeianus, as in the Megalographia (large scale painting) with the Macedonian prince and the philosopher from the villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale. The mature Third Style, which can be dated between the Augustan Age and the early Julio-Claudian period, has left us with examples of great quality, both in the country villas and town houses. The first group includes the villa of Boscotrecase, which belonged to Agrippa Postumus; it is famous for the refined execution of the idyllic-sacred pictures such as the one in the central panel of a typical wall of the Third Style, with thin columns and pilasters covered with ornate polychromes, painted in a miniaturist style. The wall is dominated by a large central painting depicting a rural temple, with a column that supports the ritual vase on the abacus and a sacred tree in the background. Nevertheless, it is the paintings with narrative-mythological themes, copies or re-workings of famous originals of Classical and Hellenistic Greek painting, which mark this phase and which caught the imagination of the Bourbon court, leading to the creation of a picture gallery of paintings of “Greek art”, the inspiration behind the selection for the collections of the Real Museo (Royal Museum). The same criterion must have been used by the ancient patrons, as can be seen, for example, in the decoration of one of the cubicles of the House of the Fatal Love, otherwise known as the House of Jason (IX, 5, 18), which displays, in the paintings depicting Medea contemplating killing her sons, Phaedra with the nurse and Paris and Helen, an iconographic choice inspired by the theme of the fatality of the love of ancient heroines. The transition between the Third and the Fourth Style took place in the period between Claudius and Nero. This phase marked the return to favour of spectacular architecture, though the illusion of depth in the Second Style was lacking. Paintings with mythological themes were still popular, with some themes repeated several times, like that of Perseus and Andromeda, of which one example stands out: it came from the Casa dei Dioscuri (VI, 9, 6) and, in terms of its composition and the design of the figures, derives from the original Greek painting, possibly the work of Nicias. Favourite themes also included the love between Mars and Venus, of which there are over thirty known copies, or the twelve tasks of Hercules, or the story of Dido abandoned, which occurs in five Pompeian paintings inspired by one of the most well-known iconographic subjects taken from the myth of the origins of Rome celebrated in the Aenead. Other iconographies appear to be rarer, such as the fresco depicting the wounded Aeneas in the House of Siricus (VII, 1, 25). A group of extremely beautiful paintings comes from the House of the Tragic Poet (VII, 8, 5); they represent the Hierogamy of Zeus and Hera, Achilles and Briseis, and the Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Nevertheless, the Fourth Style wall did not just portray figurative scenes in the central mythological painting; it also contained minor paintings, cartoons, friezes, often including putti, subjects of Hellenistic origin which are depicted, together with their female companions, the Psychai, as children involved in carrying out a wide range of human activities associated with the adult world. One theme which stands apart from the others in the paintings is that of landscape; originally it was portrayed as the background of idyllic mythological scenes, then as a Nilotic landscape, peopled by pygmies, crocodiles and other animals, which became better known after the Roman conquest of Egypt. Occasionally, especially in paintings of Third and Fourth Style, an architectural landscape is depicted, in particular from the villa of otium (refined leisure) with its gardens and porticoes. In the Roman period, the painted portrait took on particular importance, although few examples are still preserved; one of the most famous ones to survive is the so-called portrait of Sappho and the couple of Paquius Proculus and his wife. There are also extremely interesting paintings of still life, which were known in the ancient world as the Greek word means “welcoming gifts”). This term was originally used to refer to the fruit, vegetables and eggs which the master of the house would have delivered to his guests in their rooms so that they prepare them as they so desired. Later, as is mentioned by Vitruvius, the word came to be used for small paintings depicting the same subjects. Some of the most refined and beautiful examples come from the Praedia of Julia Felix (II, 4, 3) at Pompeii. Besides the painting of the Pompeian styles, there is also a more popular genre, made for practical purposes, such as shop signs, the decoration of taverns or similar hostelries. Painted rapidly and without any aspirations of refinement, this genre nevertheless managed to achieve the objective of capturing the attention of the potential client or passer-by through the liveliness of the portrayal. Lastly, there was a further iconographic theme of great importance, that of the garden. Paintings with this theme were often used on the walls of the gardens themselves, but also on triclinia and cubicles with the aim of extending the perspective of their size, or of creating an imaginary view of bushes or woods. These paintings often contain allusions to the Dionysian or Aphrodisiac worlds, which were havens of happiness. During the Fourth Style, from the Claudio-Neronian period onwards, paintings also featured landscapes full of wild animals, depictions of exotic environments which were far-removed from everyday life.
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