The brilliance and creativity of Roman fresco painting is much admired in Classical Art. With their lively blend of narrative and decorative subjects, often combined with ingenious trompe l’oeil devices, wall frescoes vividly demonstrate the originality of Roman art and reveal an unparalleled record of the life of affluent Romans two thousand years ago. A durable medium, fresco paint has allowed many works to survive in surprisingly good shape through earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other adverse conditions. The richest concentration of surviving fresco paintings has been found in Campania, the region around Naples (including the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum). The Metropolitan Museum of Art has had the fortune of owning the finest and largest collection of Roman frescoes outside of Italy. Essential to the Museum’s collection of frescoes are the exceptionally fine wall paintings from two villas at Boscoreale and Boscotrecase—cities not far from Pompeii. This volume provides a comprehensive examination of the painted walls of these two villas, featuring a host of frescoes that reveal the Romans’ cultural and artistic concerns. From the baroque exuberance of the late Republic to the classical restraint of the early Empire, this volume presents a thorough analysis of the transition in the art of Roman wall painting.

56 pages, 64 illustrations (42 in full color), 8 1/2 in. x 11 in. Paper.


Pompeian Frescoes
04-051652
Member Price: $13.46 each
Non-Member Price: $14.95 each


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