Fig. 161.—Base, capital, and section of the entablature from the colonnade of the peristyle.
Near the middle of the garden is a round, marble table. Three others stand under the colonnade, one of which, at the right near the inner end, is particularly elegant. The three feet are carved to represent lions' claws; the heads above are well executed, and there are traces of yellow color on the manes. On two pillars in the garden are double busts, the subjects of which are taken from the bacchic cycle. One represents Bacchus and a bacchante ([Fig. 257]), the other Bacchus and Ariadne; there are traces of painting on the hair, beard, and eyes.
The wall paintings of this house are the most remarkable yet discovered at Pompeii. Although the decoration of which they form a part is throughout of the fourth style, they fall into two groups, an earlier and a later, distinguished by differences in composition and handling that are easily perceived.
Fig. 162.—Peristyle of the house of the Vettii, looking south from the colonnade at the north end.
The earlier paintings are found in the atrium (c), the alae (h, i), and the large room at the end of the peristyle (q). At the time when they were painted the left ala (h) was connected with the room behind it (n) by a door, and had a large window opening on the peristyle like that in the other ala (seen in [Fig. 160]). Afterwards both window and door were walled up and the ala was turned into a wardrobe. After this change had been made, as the remains of the masonry show, the earthquake of 63 threw down a part of the wall between the ala and the peristyle. The earlier paintings, then, must have been placed upon the walls before the year 63, in the reign of Claudius or the earlier part of the reign of Nero.
The later pictures are on the walls of the fauces (b), the large apartment at the left of the atrium (e), the colonnade of the peristyle (l), the two dining rooms opening on the peristyle (n, p), and the small peristyle (s) with the adjoining rooms (t, u); to the same class belongs also the painting of the Genius with the Lares in the side atrium (v), which, aside from this, contains no pictures. The remaining rooms present nothing of interest.
The paintings of the first group are characterized by refinement in the choice of subjects, fertility in the composition, firmness of touch in the drawing, and exquisite finish in even the smallest details. The colors used are simple and harmonious, violent contrasts being avoided. A number of these pictures show the hand of a true artist, whose work has been found in no other house, and the system of decoration is the most effective of its kind in Pompeii.