Recent discoveries in Roman painting

[SigniferOne]

A blog has recently published some images from the house of Augustus (first Roman emperor in 30 BC), paintings which were discovered in the 60s and 70s but have been under lock until recent times. The rooms emphasize elegance and simplicity, and strive to convince the viewer that walls have "disappeared and that they carry extraordinary landscapes and architectural vistas in the far distance".



http://eternallycool.net/?p=1245

Keep in mind, as you gaze on these images, that they're actually cold, hard walls, without modern amenities -- so great is the mastery which makes them come alive.

If you're interested check out the other blog entries from http://eternallycool.net/?p=1054.

There you'll find paintings like the following:


which Raphael used to made a pilgrimage to, in order to study and try to equal it, producing a direct link between ancient Rome and Renaissance art. Let me remind you again that that delicate leg, exposed from beneath beautiful drapery, is 2,000 years old.


Theseus


Discovered in mid-18th century near Pompeii, recovered in an almost pristine condition and is "compared to the paintings of the Renaissance master Raphael".

Io and Argus


Women of Pompeii


Hercules wrestling with Serpents:


One might think this next one was done by Michelangelo:

[Erwin Rommel]

it would have look cool, if it wasnt peeling off........

but yeah it is kinda awesome for a 2000 year old painting. but hey, what do you expect form a house of a roman emperor

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Quite amazing...I wish my house looked like that

[Phoebus]

Thanks, Signifer--great thread!

[The Good]

Amazing wall painting. It looks nice.

[Axeman]

Excellent, another series of works to add to my collection!
*insert Dr. Evil laugh here*

But on a serious note, excellent find!

[Dracula]

is this Pompei or Herculanum towns this house in ?

[Erwin Rommel]

its in the palatine hill

and oh yeha read the article

[Dracula]

ok I am gonna read now

[Giorgos]

Thanks Sig. Its always good to see real roman art.

[boofhead]

I saw your thread the other day and thought 'wow'. I even showed my daughter who was very impressed with the colour and scale of the rooms. And I guess the average Roman being shorter, the ceiling would have seemed even higher (I refer to a pic in your link which has people in the room).

It is just fantastic to actually see a real ancient Roman dwelling from the inside. All those books I've read, they never quite put you there like the real thing.

[IMPERATOR_5]

Incredible! Nice Thread!

[gaius valerius]

Interesting but not new. We have more examples of such paintings which "strive to convince the viewer that walls have "disappeared and that they carry extraordinary landscapes and architectural vistas in the far distance". Anyways, still it is a splendor to see more of them as Roman paintings are indeed very, very rare, plus very beautiful and skillful.

Great post, thx.

[Mythos]

Excellent thread. That red colour is so vivid! I wonder how it kept that way all those years.

[Boyar Son]

Eccentric! a pic of a wall on another wall these emporers or not burguoise

[conon394]

boofhead

I guess the average Roman being shorter

Well not all that short if you net a few of the outlier tall European countries – something rather closer to average.

[Dracula]

boofhead



Well not all that short if you net a few of the outlier tall European countries – something rather closer to average.

I think the people in the antiquity and middle-ages were a little shorter,but more muscled and chubby. Not that there weren't modern-like figures(see the greek statues) ,but the active physical life made them stronger and broader,and also prevented high growth,like in some body builders.

[SigniferOne]

Hey guys, I've updated the first post with a couple of recent and pretty amazing new images that have made rounds on the Internet.

Take a look!

[icydawgfish]

I might be out of touch with the world but I didn't think that painting was very common until the late middle ages.

[Aketi]

Wonderful. Too bad there are only a few ancient Roman paintings that are that well-preserved. Well, there is still a lot to be found.

I own a book that has dozens of large pictures of high quality frescos from Pompeii. I would post some of them, but unfortunately, the real good ones show explicit sexual acts that would probably break the TOS. In fact, Pompeii is full of amazing ancient "porn".