Wall painting fragment
1st century BCE-1st century CE
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.
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
Fausto Benedetti, Rome, (by 1925), gift; to the Fogg Museum of Art, 1925.
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