Harvard Art Museums > 1925.6.37: Wall painting fragment Fragments Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Wall painting fragment , 1925.6.37,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 23, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/292241. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1925.6.37 Title Wall painting fragment Classification Fragments Work Type wall painting fragment(s) Date 1st century BCE-1st century CE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe Period Roman Republican period, Late, to Early Imperial Culture Roman Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/292241 Physical Descriptions Medium Pigment on plaster Technique Fresco painting Dimensions H. 9.2 x W. 11.2 x D. 2.1 cm (3 5/8 x 4 7/16 x 13/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Fausto Benedetti, Rome, (by 1925), gift; to the Fogg Museum of Art, 1925. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Fausto Benedetti Accession Year 1925 Object Number 1925.6.37 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description This fragment features a yellow circle on a white ground and concentric circles in shades of pink forming a target-like pattern that resembles the veining of marble. Known as the First Style or Incrustation Style, this decorative tradition became popular in Rome during the late second century BCE. in some instances it is possible to identify the specific stone that is represented, but many early examples of this style do not imitate known marble (1). Instead, paintings such as the fragment represented here are an exploration of colors and forms to simulate generic masonry (2). Originally from a larger wall painting, this fragment likely came from a lower horizontal frieze of a wall where it would have served as the dado for the series of architectural and figural panels above. 1. For painted imitation of known marble materials see the Second Style paintings in the Villa of Poppaei at Oplontis. 2. Compare to a similar example of generic imitation marble from the House of the Faun at pompeii (VI.12.2), which J. Clayton Fant refers to as "amoeba-like shapes" in "Real and Painted (Imitation) Marble at Pompeii," in World of Pompeii, edited by John Dobbins and Pedar Foss (New York, 2008), 336, fig. 22.1. Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2018 - 05/06/2018 Subjects and Contexts Roman Domestic Art Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
