Pompeian Styles Essay

There are four different styles of wall paintings in roman history. The classification of these styles came about mainly during the excavation of Pompeii. The german scholar August Mau developed a system to classify the four decorative modes that he identified in the wall paintings at Pompeii. The categories he delineated are still widely known as the four Pompeian styles (Pappalardo 9). Though they are still widely referred to as the Pompeian styles, some have adapted new names. The first is the “masonry” style, the second, the “illusionistic or architectural” style, the third is know as the “ornate” style, and the fourth being a little bit of them is considered the “intricate” style. The piece of art that I have been researching is the cubiculum

This style is not particularly hard to identify when looking at an image of each of the four styles. The artist attempts to use polished blocks to imitate marble. These blocks are often referred to as “faux marble”. They are made of plaster, which is then polished and painted in order to accurately portray what a real marble slab would look like. We see a lot of roman statues crafted out of marble, but the stone was quite expensive. People in this time period used to have artists imitate these glorious marble slabs and they actually became quite good at it. This “faux marble” was so brilliant that it even became rather pricy. The reason behind this style was for the beauty of marble to be spread to those who could not afford it, and now this style in itself became the artwork for only the upper class. The first style was not one of the more common styles when researching the ancient roman wall paintings, but a classic example of First Style painting, has to be the House of the Faun, in Pompeii, which was built in 2nd century, B.C.E.
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