In the central panel on the back wall, seemingly weightless columns support a pavilion roof with jewel-like decorations. Notice how this structure occupies very little space in the pictorial plane, and creates almost no sense of depth. In fact, the tiny landscape vignette, in the center of the panel, appears to float like an island in the middle of blackness. Once burnished to a high polish, these walls must have appeared magical when illuminated by lamps at night!

On the same wall, on either side of the central panel, are mirror images. Tiny, realistically painted swans perch improbably on threadlike spirals. Between these elegant creatures, rises a delicate candelabrum. At the top is a yellow, rectangular panel with an Egyptianizing scene. These images are closely linked with the Emperor Augustus and, thus, fitting for a villa belonging to his friend, Agrippa, and daughter, Julia. The swan was the bird of Apollo, patron god of the Emperor. And, the Egyptianizing scenes called to mind Rome’s recent annexation of Egypt, in which Augustus played a pivotal role.