Principles of Decoration in the Roman World

Annette Haug, M. Taylor Lauritsen, Annette Haug, M. Taylor Lauritsen

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9783110732214
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Greek Ancient History
• Index: History

DECOR ist die erste Reihe, die sich mit Decor-Phänomenen im umfassenden Sinn beschäftigt. Dabei werden Decor-Formen nicht als isolierte Einzelelemente, sondern in ihrem räumlich-architektonischen und visuellen Wirkzusammenhang betrachtet. Dies bedeutet, dass nicht nur Bilder, sondern auch Ornamente in die Überlegungen einbezogen werden und somit ein Zusammenspiel von Decor-Elementen unterschiedlicher semantischer Dichte zu diskutieren ist. Decor-Elemente werden dabei dezidiert auf ihren Bezug zum Raum hin befragt, in dem sie zur Wirkung kommen. Es geht also um Analyse von Bild-Räumen bzw. Decor-Räumen. Dadurch rücken auch der Betrachter und seine Wahrnehmungshaltungen in den Vordergrund.

Der geographische Fokus liegt auf Italien, der chronologische Rahmen reicht vom 2. Jh. v. Chr. bis zum Ende der frühen Kaiserzeit im späten 1. Jh. n. Chr. In diese Zeit fallen nicht nur tiefgreifende politische und soziale Umwälzungen, sondern auch mehrmalige, tiefgreifende Veränderungen der Decor-Prinzipien. Gerade für diesen zeitlichen und räumlichen Kontext lässt sich besonders fruchtbar nach der Relation zwischen veränderten Handlungs- und Erlebnisformen einerseits und sich ändernden Decor-Strategien andererseits fragen.

Ornamental Painting on Campanian House Façades

M. Taylor Lauritsen

M. Taylor Lauritsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Classical Archaeology at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. He completed his PhD in Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh in 2014, having previously studied Classics and Classical archaeology at North Carolina State University, Newcastle University and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior to arriving in Kiel, he held a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship in Classics at the University of Edinburgh and a Lectureship in Archaeology at Cardiff University. His research interests include Roman urbanism and domestic architecture, with a particular emphasis on the Vesuvian cities.

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, studies of decoration in Campanian houses have emphasised the importance of painting schemes for the organisation of social activities and movement, examining the domus and its decor primarily from the perspective of the non-resident. At the same time, painted decoration on façades - particularly the non-figurative variety - has been ignored almost entirely in scholarly literature, despite its obvious communicative disposition. After an historical introduction, this paper considers a selection of common schemes employed in ornamental façade painting, exploring their relationship with similar designs found inside the house. The discussion concludes with some preliminary thoughts on the relationship between interior and exterior decoration, access and privacy in the dwellings of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

In the modern world, the exterior decoration of urban buildings plays a central role in the visual experience of the cityscape. Through the implementation of various decorative techniques, façades can draw the attention of the viewer and communicate information about a property’s function, its occupants and its status within the community¹. This transfer of information is successful due primarily to the knowledge and expectations of the viewer, which help him/her decipher the visual language presented and thus complete the semantic circle, as it were². The situation was little different in antiquity, although for the modern researcher, deciphering the relationship between perceiver and material is considerably more challenging, because (1) identifying the expectations of ancient pedestrians is, naturally, quite difficult and (2) the material record with which they engaged has largely been destroyed.

In Roman cities, these problems are particularly apposite with respect to townhouses (domūs), which, unlike temples, basilicae and other public buildings, typically lacked characteristic exterior forms of architectural elaboration. Their primary decorative apparatus consisted of painted plaster, a perishable material that survives only in unique taphonomic circumstances³. Likewise, Roman writers, who often have much to say regarding the decoration of domestic interiors, are uncharacteristically quiet when it comes to façades. The only area to receive consistent attention in ancient texts is the house door, which is said to have been adorned with garlands and ribbons to mark important life events, such as births, marriages and deaths⁴. Material evidence from well-preserved archaeological contexts confirms that the door was often a point of emphasis within the overall decorative scheme. But there are no descriptions of façade paintings or architectural ornamentation, even in the sources that we might expect to focus on such topics, such as De Architectura⁵. Indeed, while Vitruvius dedicates considerable time to both the architectural layout and decoration of interior space⁶, the same consideration does not extend to the façade, which he fails to mention even in passing.

As a consequence of these lacunar textual and material records, studies dedicated to the exterior decoration of Roman houses are rare, even in Pompeii and Herculaneum, where the archaeological evidence is most robust⁷. Here, a lack of attention can also be attributed to the wealth of decorative media discovered inside Campanian dwellings, which has generated considerable interest in the semantic characteristics of Roman interior design⁸. This paper represents an attempt to fill the gap between inside and out, offering some preliminary thoughts on the communicative role that façade painting played in the daily lives of the towns’ inhabitants. The focus here is primarily on ‘ornamental’ designs, which I define as the non-figurative decorative techniques that were employed to cover the full breadth of the façade. Particular emphasis will be given to those patterns and motifs that appear in both interior and exterior wall painting.

The Casa del Poeta Tragico

One could argue that the modern emphasis on Roman interior decoration found its genesis in the discovery of the Casa del Poeta Tragico (VI 8,5). In the autumn of 1824, excavators working along the Via delle Terme in Pompeii came upon the remains of this extraordinarily well-preserved house. Laid out in the traditional Campanian style, the dwelling gained almost immediate notoriety following its discovery, not on account of its size - which was modest by Pompeian standards - but rather its exceptional decorative programme⁹. After suffering considerable damage during the A.D. 62 earthquake, the entire property was redecorated in the Fourth Style, and much of this decoration was in excellent condition upon discovery¹⁰.

During the decade preceding the Poeta Tragico’s excavatio...