Pompeii, Its Life and Art

by August Mau

Fig. 170.—Cupids celebrating the festival of Vesta.
Wall painting in the house of the Vettii.

We may dismiss the later paintings of the house with few words. In the fauces (b) are small monochrome panels containing a pair of deer, a cock fight, vases, and a wallet with a herald's staff, attributes of Mercury, who perhaps had a place among the Penates of the house.

In the room at the left of the atrium (e) is a painting of Cyparissus, the youth beloved of Apollo, with his wounded deer on the ground near him; in another part of the room is the wrestling match between Pan and Eros. Among the figures seen in the architectural framework of the upper division of the wall is Zeus, sitting on his throne, represented as a youth, unbearded; Leda with the swan also appears, and Danaë holding out her robe to catch the golden rain.

The direction of the owner's tastes is perhaps indicated by a painting in the peristyle, at the middle of the wall under the colonnade at the left. It contains a portrait, probably of an author; near by is a manuscript case with rolls of papyrus.

PLATE IX.—A DINING ROOM IN THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII

The paintings in the two dining rooms opening on the peristyle, n and p, are in a better state of preservation than those of any other part of the house. In the first room, n, the simple and restful decoration surrounding the large pictures is in striking contrast with the pictures themselves, one of which is placed at the middle of each of the three walls. Here we see the infant Hercules strangling the serpents, there Pentheus and the Maenads about to tear him in pieces; the subject of the third painting is the punishment of Dirce, the treatment being not unlike that of the sculptured Farnese group in the Naples Museum.

The decorative effect of the other room, p, is more harmonious. The divisions of the wall space, the relation of the three principal paintings to the decorative design, and the distribution of ornament are indicated in our illustration ([Plate IX]); but no reproduction can do justice to the richness of the coloring.