Fig. 263.—Specimen of wall decoration. Third or Ornate Style.
From the house of Spurius Mesor.
The effect of the Ornate Style, with its symmetrical forms and variety of detail, is pleasing; but the free use of neutral tones gives the walls a somewhat cold and formal appearance when we bring into contrast the warm coloring of the next period.
The fourth or Intricate Style first appears about the middle of the first century A.D. It started, as did the third, with the symmetrical division of the wall developed in the second style; it differs from the third in that it always retained a sense of architectural form. The columns are often fluted, as in a specimen in the Naples Museum ([Fig. 264]). The entablatures and coffered ceilings, light and airy as they often seem, have nevertheless a suggestion of reality; we know that architectural forms are presented, and not mere stripes of color. Yet the difference between the fourth and the second style is no less apparent. In the latter the architectural designs are not inconsistent with real construction; in the former the imagination of the designer had free scope, producing patterns so fantastic and intricate that the fundamental idea at the basis of the wall divisions seems entirely lost sight of at times.
The preference for architectural forms was carried so far that between the large panels of black, red, or yellow, vertical sections of wall were left which were filled with airy structures on a white background; the parts represented as nearest the beholder were painted yellow, those further back were adorned with all the colors of the rainbow, thus forming a kind of color perspective ([Fig. 265]). The designs of the main part were extended into the upper division, and frequently the whole wall appears as an intricate scaffolding, partially concealed by the large panels; these sometimes have the appearance of tapestries hanging suspended from the scaffolding, and are so treated, as in the case of the curtains shown in [Plate XIII]. The fundamental conception of the decorative system is lost when the background of the upper part and of the airy scaffoldings is no longer left white, but painted the same color as the rest of the wall, so that the effect of distance and perspective is obscured. Occasionally, also, the architectural framework of the upper portion of the wall has no connection with that of the main part.
Fig. 264.—Specimen of wall decoration. Fourth style.
The ornaments of the fourth style were taken largely from the domain of plastic art. Groups of statuary as well as single figures appear either upon projecting portions of the architectural framework, as in [Fig. 264], or in the background. They are frequently painted yellow, suggesting the gilding applied to ancient statues, particularly those of bronze, and present a striking contrast to the masses of strong color in the large panels and the brilliant shades of the architectural designs. They are in harmony with the taste of the period, which, as we have seen, manifested a fondness for ornamentation in stucco relief, the effect of which was heightened by the free use of color.