PREFACE.
In the following account of the Pompeian Court, my chief aim has been to combine simplicity with truth; relying for success on that interest which so alluring a subject is certain to create. With much gratification I avail myself of the privilege granted to an author, in his preface, of returning my best thanks to those friends who have lent me their aid in this arduous undertaking. Mr. Digby Wyatt is entitled to the gratitude of all engaged in the works of art at the Crystal Palace for the opportunities he has afforded to each artist for the display of his particular talents, and I sincerely thank him for his kindness in accompanying me through the building and affording minute information to my numerous enquiries when he could with difficulty spare the time. I beg also cordially to thank Mr. Samuel Phillips for important suggestions respecting the conduct of my work, and for his interest and encouragement in its progress. Mr. Edward Falkener is entitled to my best acknowledgments, not only for the valuable assistance rendered in his published account of a Pompeian house, but for his kindness in looking over the proofs of these pages before they were committed to press. It is to be hoped that many of his observations may appear at greater length in the next edition of this Handbook, without prejudice to the magnificent work he is contemplating on the “Domestic Architecture of Pompeii.” I sincerely thank my friend, Mr. James Morant Lockyer for the benefit of his long architectural sojourn in Pompeii; regretting, at the same time, that the public has not had the advantage of his extensive knowledge and experience.
The excellent paintings produced here in the Pompeian Court, under the direction of Signor Abbate require no commendation from me; but I feel that I shall be only expressing the sentiment of others in wishing that we may at some future period see an extension of this ancient palace, or another series of apartments in which the same abilities shall afford us accurate copies of still more of the pictorial celebrities—such as the Theseus and the Minotaur, and Hercules and Telephus, found at Herculaneum; the Sacrifice of Iphigenia and the Anger of Achilles, from the House of the Tragic Poet; also the Zephyrus and Flora, and some of the picture mosaics, the Choragus one, for instance, and the far-famed Alexander and Darius at the battle of Issus.
THE POMPEIAN COURT.
DESCRIBED BY GEORGE SCHARF, Jun.