8. THE TABLINUM.
This broad central space, both as regards its dimensions and decorations, is wholly copied from the Tablinum of the house of Apollo. The entire upper part is white, with delicate lines of blight colours forming elegant patterns upon it. In the centre of the ceiling, which is gently curved, is a naked Venus upon a green hippocamp or sea monster. A flying Cupid holds reins, and another flying Cupid holds a mirror with a long handle. Mus. Bor., vol. viii., tav. 10. Pitture d’Ercalano, vol. ii., p. 247. The ground of the original group, found at Herculaneum, is black. The Museo Borbonico text describes the second Cupid as holding an umbrella, but the form is peculiarly that of a mirror, and Appuleius, Met. 4, in his account of the train attending Venus as she proceeded to the palace of Oceanus, makes especial mention of one holding a mirror. The passage is so illustrative of the ideas of the age that produced these paintings, that some part of it may be transcribed with advantage.
“The daughters of Nereus, too, were present singing in tuneful harmony; Portunus, too, rough with his azure-coloured beard; and Salacia, weighed down with her lapful of fish; with little Palaemon, their charioteer, upon a dolphin, and then troops of Tritons furrowing the main in all directions. One softly sounded his melodious shell; another with a silken canopy protected her from the sun; a third held a mirror, while others, again, swam yoked to her car.”
The spandrils formed by the architrave of the peristyle and atrium are filled with green marine animals on white ground.
9. Left Wall.—The chief central picture is Perseus showing the head of Medusa to Andromeda, reflected in the water at their feet; as the direct sight of the Gorgon’s visage turned all to stone, the conceit here adopted is very pretty. It was popular in Pompeii, and frequently repeated. When Perseus was about to encounter Medusa, Minerva gave him a polished shield, by the assistance of which he cut off her head without the peril that had attended so many others, being guided through his enterprise by the reflection in the shield. The composition of this picture is very elegant. It is surrounded by bright red. On both sides of the centre are rich architectural ranges of columns in two tiers. The coffered ceilings represented are worthy of observation. Before the columns, at the lower part, are bright blue doorways, in which lie comic masks. To the right and left of these central compartments are large yellow panels, each containing a floating female figure without wings. The one to the left holds a pedum in her right hand and a vintage basket with fruit in the left. The drapery is blue lined with purple. The female to the right, dressed in white and crimson edged with blue, has bare feet and holds a lyre and plectrum; both these females have bracelets. Between the masks, under the principal picture, is a black frieze with admirably-painted greenish marine monsters. The dado of these walls is black. The picture and Bacchantes are copied from the House with the Coloured Capitals.
10. Right Wall.—The opposite side has exactly the same decorations, with the exception of the central picture and the two side figures. The middle picture represents Venus (Aphroditê), Euploia, borne on the back of a Triton, playing a lyre. She is attended by the Cupids Pothos, Himeros, and Eros. A female figure behind carries a jar, and the heads of Boreas and Zephyros blowing are visible through the dark blue sky. This picture is taken from the house with the coloured capitals. It has been carefully engraved in the Museo Borbonico, vol. xii., tav. 32. See also Panofka Autikenschau, Berlin, 1850.
The floating female to the left of central picture holds the tympanum or drum in the right and thyrsus in the left; her dress is pale purple with white drapery floating behind. This shows well on the yellow panel. Her left breast is covered with a nebris or fawn-skin. The female to the right holds a ewer in her right hand and a patera in her left. A thin gauze drapery is next her skin, having a crimson drapery lined with blue over it. Both these Bacchantes have bracelets and anklets. The four floating Bacchantes of tablinum have been taken from the House with the Coloured Capitals.
11. The second FAUCES is precisely like the other. The broad black line in the pavement edging the floor is characteristic of a Pompeian house. In the one described by Mr. Falkener the black margin, about nine inches broad (page 39), joined the walls. In some instances the colour was red.
12. Wall corresponding in position and decoration to [No. 6]. The central figure here enthroned is Ceres, the Demeter of the Greeks. The Goddess of Corn, of Earth, and Agriculture, is crowned with corn. A torch in her right hand, bearded corn on her left arm, and a basket of corn also at her feet. The spiked corn is always seen represented in ancient art both in paintings and on coins. It forms a conspicuous symbol on the coins of Metapontum, a city in the same part of Italy as Pompeii. This painting is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. vi., tav. 54. Also by Zahn, taf. 25. The figure of Ceres is dressed in thin gauze undergarment, with pale slate-coloured drapery covering a purple dress, which appears only above the feet. A muslin-like drapery is gathered behind her head and shoulders. The throne, torch, and flame are all of one uniform yellow colour. The basket of corn is in natural colours. From the House of Ceres.
13. Ala. The general decoration of Ala corresponds with the opposite one. The main central picture of this Ala represents the rescue of Andromeda. This painting affords an interesting comparison with the bas-relief in the Greek Court, No. 35, where the same subject is represented. The treatment of the principal figures in the painting is much more sculpturesque than in the bas-relief. In the former the rescued lady stands attitudinizing on a rock, like a statue on a pedestal; her drapery is unruffled, and there is no sign of emotion in the figure prompted either by love, or the recollection of her recent perilous situation. In the latter there is a wild flutter about the drapery of Andromeda. She is descending from the rock with an evident confidence and dependence on her deliverer; and his firm manly pose in the sculpture is characteristic of the hero. The freedom, however, in the lines, is more pictorial in the bas-relief. The group as exhibited in our Pompeian picture, is excellently adapted for modelling in isolated statues. Compare Mus. Bor., vol. vi., tav. 50.