n at i o n a l g a l l e r y o f a r t | o c t o b e r 1 9 , 2 0 0 8  –  m a r c h 2 2 , 2 0 0 9

Pompeii and the Roman Villa

a r t a n d c u lt u r e a r o u n d t h e b ay o f n a p l e s
 b e fore mou nt ves u vi u s e ru p te d i n ad 79,
the region
of Campania around the Bay of Naples was an artistic center
of great sophistication. Archaeological excavations have
uncovered not only Pompeii (fig. 1), Herculaneum, and other
towns near Vesuvius, but also the remains of luxurious sea-
side villas built for prominent Romans (fig. 2). They were
drawn to the bay by its beauty and thermal baths — a legacy
of its volcanic geology — as well as the lingering Greek culture
around Naples, a former Greek colony. The bay’s popularity
as a resort for vacationing Romans brought extraordinary
wealth to the area. Adding to its economic well-being was
the emperor Augustus’ designation of the port of Puteoli
(modern Pozzuoli, north of Naples) as the Italian entry point
for the enormous shipments of grain from the province of
Egypt. The wealth, coupled with the great demand for works
of art to adorn the interior spaces and gardens of the vast
maritime villas, attracted artists from far and wide. Many of
them would also have found clients among the well-to-do
townspeople of Pompeii and Herculaneum who emulated the
lifestyles of the powerful elite. The art collections of both
villa owners and residents of the nearby towns demonstrate
their shared artistic tastes and cultural ideals, particularly a
reverence for classical Greece, which was seen as a Golden Age.

Cover: Garden scene,

Pompeii, House of the
Golden Bracelet, fresco,
1st century BC – 1st cen-
tury AD, Ufficio Scavi,
Pompei (detail, no. 65)

1. Christen Købke, The

Forum at Pompeii with
Vesuvius in the Background,
1841, oil on canvas, The
J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles (no. 150)
2. Two seaside villas,
Pompeii, 1st century BC – 
1st century AD, fresco,
Museo Archeologico
Nazionale di Napoli (no. 2)

Villas, Houses, and Gardens

Roman aristocrats began constructing villas on the bay in the

second century bc. They retreated to these country estates,
especially in spring and summer, to enjoy their leisure (otium)
and escape from the pressures of business (negotium) in Rome.
Over the course of the next two centuries ruling families
arrived as well. Julius Caesar, the first emperor Augustus, and
the emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero all had
residences on the bay. The presence of the imperial families
led to increasing numbers of villas for Romans eager to further
their careers through access to the political elite in more relaxed
social circumstances than was possible in Rome. So many villas
were built along the bay that the ancient historian Strabo said
they looked like “one continuous city.”
The sumptuous villas had extensive gardens and elegant
interior courtyards, some large enough to enclose a swimming
pool. Their façades were lined with colonnaded walkways
that offered the owners sweeping vistas of the sea, reached
by terraces leading down to private harbors for pleasure boats.
The houses forming the dense city blocks of Pompeii and
Herculaneum turned a blank wall to the busy streets but
nonetheless shared certain features with the seaside villas.
In both, rooms were arranged around an atrium, which opened
to the sky to bring light to the interior and allow rainwater
to collect in a square basin (impluvium) set into the floor.
Some townspeople emulated features of villa architecture
on a smaller scale, adding colonnaded (peristyle) courtyards,
baths, and interior gardens to their houses. According to
Vitruvius, writing in the first century ad, the residences
of “men of rank who, from holding offices and magistracies,
have social obligations to their fellow citizens, [need] lofty
entrance courts . . . . and most spacious atriums and peristyles . . . . 
The rules on these points will hold not only for houses in
3. Two table supports,
Pompeii, House of Gaius
Cornelius Rufus, 1st cen-
tury AD, marble, Ufficio
Scavi, Pompei (no. 15)

4. Kantharos entwined with

olive branches, Pompeii,
House of the Menander,
1st century BC , silver,
Museo Archeologico
Nazionale di Napoli
(no. 29)

town, but also for those in

the country. . .” (On Architecture
6.5.2 – 3).
The interiors of the
villas and many Pompeian
houses were lavishly deco-
rated, their walls sheathed
with colorful frescoes repre-
senting mythological scenes,
landscapes with views of the
bay and the villas lining its shores, and still lifes celebrating
local delicacies from the sea and the land made fertile by its
rich volcanic soil. Furnishings included marble tables (fig. 3)
and bronze lampstands, some even in the form of statues.
In the grander houses, diners drank wine from silver cups
decorated with olives (fig. 4), vine leaves, or famous episodes
from familiar myths. Sculpted portraits of family members
or ancestors, set up in reception areas, would have reminded
guests of the lineage of their hosts.
Gardens in and around the villas were accented with
aviaries, fountains, and marble or bronze figurines that
spurted water into pools and watercourses. Houses in Pom-
peii were generally much smaller, but townspeople shared
the villa owners’ love of gardens. Even in modest houses, a
little garden might be tucked into the courtyard and embel-
lished with sculpture. If the spaces were too tight for actual
gardens, plants could be painted on the walls. The painted
 gardens visually expanded small ones, as in the so-called
House of the Golden Bracelet where frescoes of flowering
shrubs, birds, and fountains adjoined the real garden behind
the house (cover).
Garden sculpture often represents rustic subjects,
including wild animals, or Dionysos, god of wine, with his
rowdy entourage of satyrs and maenads. Such works suggest
the wilder side of nature while taming it for the owners’ plea-
sure. Portraits of Greek thinkers and writers were also set up
in gardens, which, like libraries, were places for contemplation
and learning — echoes of the pastoral setting of Plato’s Academy,
depicted in a mosaic from a house in Pompeii that shows
Plato surrounded by philosophers at his school in a grove
outside Athens (fig. 5).

L e g ac y o f G r e e c e

The region around the Bay of Naples had been colonized by

Greeks as early as the eighth century bc. The city of Neapolis
(modern Naples) was founded around 600 bc and did not
become a Roman municipality until 89 bc. Like other cities
around the bay, it still retained its Greek character after being
absorbed into the Roman sphere. The Greek flavor was evident
even in the streets where some Romans sported Greek dress
rather than the togas worn in Rome.
5. Plato’s Academy, Pom-
The Roman conquest of Greece in 146 bc spurred a
peii, Villa of T. Siminius fascination with the country’s illustrious past as well as the
Stephanus, 1st century
BC – 1st century AD,
looting of masterpieces of Greek art, which victorious Roman
mosaic, Museo Archeo- generals brought back to Italy to adorn public and private
logico Nazionale di Napoli
(no. 95) spaces at home. The reverence for Greece, viewed as the
repository of culture, beauty, and
wisdom, culminated in the emperor
Augustus’ intent to revive during his
reign (27 bc – ad 14) the glories of
ancient Athens under the leadership
of Pericles in the fifth century bc. In
the words of the poet Horace, “Captive
Greece took captive her savage con-
queror and brought civilization to the
rustic Latins.”
Greek influence pervaded the
decor of the villas around the Bay of
Naples and the houses of the elite in
 Pompeii and Herculaneum. For their owners, knowledge of
Greek culture was a status symbol and mark of refinement
that was reflected in the works of art they acquired. A portrait
of Homer (fig. 6) or reliefs depicting episodes from the Trojan
War conveyed their appreciation of Greek history. Busts of the
fourth-century bc playwright Menander suggested their enthu-
siasm for Athenian theater; and likenesses of the Greek philos-
opher Epicurus, who believed that pleasure is inherently good
and leads to happiness, attested to their familiarity with his
hedonistic teachings.
Dining rooms or triclinia — so called because they con-
tained three couches on which diners reclined while eat-
ing — were often painted with scenes from Greek mythology.
6. Homer, Baiae, 1st cen-
tury BC – 1st century AD, Excavations at the site of Moregine, south of Pompeii, have
marble, On Loan from uncovered an intriguing building complex, perhaps a villa,
the British Museum, Lon-
don (no. 92) perhaps an inn or the headquarters of a business. Frescoed on
the walls of one of its dining rooms are images of the god
7. Apollo and the muse Clio,
Moregine, Triclinium A, Apollo, patron of the liberal arts, flanked by the muses (fig. 7).
1st century AD, fresco,
Ufficio Scavi, Pompei
Their presence would have reminded guests of the pleasures
(detail, no. 111) of intellectual and creative conversation, the ideal at any
Roman banquet.
Many Romans living near the Bay of Naples were avid
art collectors who prized copies after Greek “old masters.”
So many versions of The Three Graces (no. 110) survive that
they must stem from a famous prototype, now lost. The
portrait of an athlete from the Villa dei Papiri near Hercula-
neum (fig. 8) echoes a fourth-century bc sculpture by Lysip-
pos, while the statue of a youth from a Pompeian house
(no. 104) harks back to Polykleitos’ Doryphoros (Spearbearer)
8. Victorious athlete, Her- of c. 440 bc. The owners of such works must have taken
culaneum, Villa dei Papiri,
1st century BC – 1st cen- pride in possessing sculptures that recall two of the most
tury AD, bronze, Museo
renowned artists of ancient Greece.
Archeologico Nazionale
di Napoli (no. 114) Some of the finest works of art
9. Aphrodite, Rione Terra
were carved in imported Greek marble;
at Puteoli, probably early others were ordered from Greece or
1st century AD, marble,
Museo Archeologico dei
created by Greek artists who had
Campi Flegrei (no. 106) moved to the Bay of Naples, attracted
10. Torso from a statue of
by the opportunities afforded by the
a woman, Rione Terra at wealthy patrons there. But most collec-
Puteoli, 1st century AD,
marble, Museo Archeolo-
tors would have relied on local artists
gico dei Campi Flegrei, familiar with Greek models. The
Baia (no. 12)
works of art they commissioned
between the first century bc and the
first century ad, either for their own
collections or for public display, were
made in styles from various periods.
A statue of Aphrodite from Puteoli
reflects the influence of classical Greek
art of the later fifth century bc in her
remote expression and the virtuoso
handling of her garment, which falls
in delicate, rippling folds (fig. 9). Like
the marble female torso from the same
site (fig. 10), the figure’s transparent
drapery clings to her body, revealing
a clear understanding of human anat-
omy. A more severe bronze statue of a
young woman from the Villa dei Papiri,
F i lm Prog r a m s Middle and High School S u n d ay L e c t u r e s

East Building Auditorium S tu dio Wor ks ho p s East Building Auditorium

Studio Workshops include an
October 25, 2:00 pm October 19, 2:00 pm
in-depth examination and discus-
The Last Days of Pompeii: Lecture and Films Finding Ancient Rome on the Bay of
sion of works of art in the galleries,
Martin M. Winkler, professor of Naples: An Introduction to Pompeii and
followed by a related, one-hour
classics, department of modern and the Roman Villa
studio project. Offered from
classical languages, George Mason Carol Mattusch, Mathy Professor of
10:00 am to 12:30 pm on the fol-
University Art History, George Mason University
lowing dates:
See the Calendar of Events and the November 9, 2:00 pm
Middle School Students
Film Calendar for further details, The Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture
November 6, 7, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
or go to www.nga.gov. in Italian Art
December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
To Live with Myths in Pompeii and Beyond
Exhibition Film High School Students Paul Zanker, professor of art history,
Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi, January 20, 21, 22, 23 Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
this 30-minute film examines February 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 23, 24, 25,
March 1, 2:00 pm
the explosion of artistic activity 26, 27
Is Anything New under the Sun? Environ-
on the Bay of Naples that began March 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 17, 18, 19, 20
mental Quality around the Bay of Naples
in the first century bc. To register, e-mail your chosen in ad 79 and the Present Day
East Building Small Auditorium date and your name, the name Mark Walters, environmental
Monday to Friday, noon to 3:00 pm and address of your school, and consultant and writer
Weekends, noon to close the school telephone number to
March 8, 2:00 pm
(with minor exceptions) highschoolstudioworkshops@ nga.gov.
The Society of Dilettanti: Grecian Taste
East Building Auditorium and Roman Spirit
Te ac h e r Wo r k s h o p s
Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, Bruce Redford, professor of art his-
February 4 and 11, 4:00 pm tory and English, Boston University
11:30 am (with minor exceptions)
Workshops include a tour of Book signing of Dilettanti: The Antic
This film was made possible by the exhibition, a discussion of and the Antique in Eighteenth-Century
the HRH Foundation teaching applications, and England to follow
light refreshments. Registration
C o n c e rt required. For details, visit http:// Public Symposium
October 15 www.nga.gov/education/teacher.htm
Roman Art and Culture on the Bay of Naples
East Building Auditorium or call 202.842.6276.
March 20, 11:00 – 5:00 pm
Michele Campanella, pianist Introductory Slide Overviews / Adult Tours March 21, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Concerts at the National Gallery Please consult the Calendar of East Building Auditorium
of Art are open to the public free of Events or www.nga.gov for full sched- Illustrated lectures by noted scholars,
charge, first-come, first-seated. ule and program information. including John Bodel, Lucilla Burn,
Faya Causey, John R. Clarke, Bjoern
G e n e r a l I n f o r m at i o n Audio Guide Ewald, Nathalie Kampen, Barbara
Narrated by National Gallery Kellum, Miranda Marvin, Rebecca
Admission to the National Gallery
director Earl A. Powell iii, this Molholt, John Pollini, and Hérica
of Art and all of its programs is free
tour includes commentary by guest Valladares
of charge, except as noted.
curator Carol Mattusch, George
Hours: Monday – Saturday, 10:00 Mason University; Mary Beard, C ata l o g u e
am – 5:00 pm, Sunday, 11:00 am –  University of Cambridge; and The fully illustrated, 383-page cata-
6:00 pm. Gallery Web site: Kenneth Lapatin, The J. Paul Getty logue, Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art
www.nga.gov. For information about Museum. The tour is available for and Culture around the Bay of Naples, is pub-
accessibility, assistive listening rental at the entrance of the exhibi- lished by the National Gallery of
devices, sign-language interpreta- tion for $5. Art in association with Thames and
tion, and other services, inquire Hudson. Hardcover $60.00, soft-
at the Information Desks, consult To reserve audio tours for groups,
cover $40.00.
the Web site, or call 202.842.6690 call 202.842.6592.
(tdd line 202.842.6176). On the Web

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/
pompeiiinfo.shtm
11. Girl fastening her peplos, with heavy drapery hanging in broad vertical folds, takes
Herculaneum, Villa dei
Papiri, 1st century BC –  inspiration from an earlier phase in the development of the
1st century AD, bronze, classical style (fig. 11).
Museo Archeologico Nazi-
onale di Napoli (no. 103) Several works of sculpture found in villas or houses
around the Bay of Naples recall the even earlier archaic style
12. Tray-bearing youth or
Apollo, Pompeii, House of current in Greece in the sixth century bc. The bronze statue
Gaius Julius Polybius, 1st
of a youth from the House of Julius Polybius in Pompeii
century BC – 1st century
AD, bronze, Ufficio Scavi, echoes the archaic style in its stiff frontal pose and stylized
Pompei (no. 48)
hair arranged in tight curls resembling corkscrews or snail
shells (fig. 12). Did Roman collectors think that such works
were actual Greek statues from the sixth century bc or did
they know that they were buying contemporary versions of
antiques? Probably most were content with modern adapta-
tions, but an archaistic bust of a youth suggests that some
buyers might have been fooled (fig. 13). Found in the Villa dei
Papiri, the sculpture may be a forgery, cleverly designed with
13. Bust of a youth or an irregularly shaped lower edge to give the impression that
Apollo, Herculaneum, Villa
dei Papiri, 1st century BC , the bust is a fragment broken off from a full-length ancient
bronze, Museo Archeo- Greek statue. Regardless of whether collectors believed such
logico Nazionale di Napoli
(no. 101) works to be ancient or modern, their collections reveal that
the Roman reverence for the Greek past led them to acquire
14. Alexander the Great on
horseback, Herculaneum, works representing the art of Greece in all its variety as they
1st century BC – 1st cen- adopted Greek culture as their own.
tury AD, bronze, Museo
Archeologico Nazionale The Greek-inspired works of art displayed in the villas
di Napoli (no. 116) and town houses around the bay took on new meanings in
their Roman context. Monumental images of gods, goddesses,
or heroes such as Alexander the Great were scaled down to
become tabletop ornaments (fig. 14). A statue evoking Apollo
transformed the god of learning and the arts into a lampstand
(no. 44), shedding light, both literal and figurative, on Roman
gatherings. In Greece statues of gods and goddesses were set
up in sanctuaries and public places, but in Pompeii a sculp-
ture of Artemis (no. 102), goddess of the hunt, was installed
in a colonnade around a domestic garden; formerly public art
became private.

D e s t r u c t i o n a n d D i s c o v e ry

The eruption of Vesuvius in ad 79 brought nearly all this to

an end. From a villa at Misenum at the northern tip of the
bay, Pliny the Younger saw the cloud rising from Vesuvius and,
soon after, wrote two letters recording the event, “Its general
appearance can best be expressed as being like a pine tree, for
 it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off
into branches. I imagine . . . it was thrust upwards by the first
blast . . . .broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at sev-
eral points . . . .The buildings were now shaking with violent
shocks and seemed to be swaying to and fro as if they were
torn from their foundations.” In the second letter he wrote,
“Soon afterwards the cloud sank down to earth and covered
the sea . . . .We were terrified to see everything changed, bur-
ied deep in ashes like snowdrifts” (Ep. 6.16, 6.20). When it
was over, Herculaneum and all but the highest parts of Pom-
peii lay beneath tons of volcanic debris. Cities farther away
were largely unaffected; the discovery of the monumental
Aphrodite at Capua (no. 107) shows that artistic patronage
continued at a very high level in parts of the region well after
the eruption. But the towns and villas in the shadow of Vesu-
vius were abandoned and mostly forgotten until their discov-
ery in the eighteenth century.
Systematic excavations began at Herculaneum in 1738
and ten years later at Pompeii. In the following decades,
archaeologists tunneling through solidified mud at Hercula-
neum found the Villa dei Papiri and brought to light more
than eighty statues and about one thousand ancient papyri
inscribed with Greek texts. News of the discovery of the
ancient cities spread throughout Europe. Curious tourists
flocked to the Bay of Naples, attracted also by bursts of volca-
nic activity from Vesuvius (fig. 15). Illustrated publications

15. Joseph Wright, Vesuvius

from Portici, c. 1774 – 1776,
oil on canvas, The Hun-
tington Library, Art Col-
lections, and Botanical
Gardens; Acquired with
funds from the Frances
Crandall Dyke Bequest
(no. 122)
16. Sir Lawrence Alma-
Tadema, A Sculpture Gal-
lery, 1874, oil on canvas,
Hood Museum of Art,
Dartmouth College,
Hanover, New Hamp-
shire. Gift of Arthur M.
Loew, Class of 1912A
(no. 143)

This brochure is
made possible by the
HRH Foundation.
The exhibition is organized
by the National Gallery
of Art, Washington, in
association with the Los
Angeles County Museum
of Art, with the cooperation
of the Direzione Regionale
per i Beni Culturali e Pae-
saggistici della Campania
and the Soprintendenza
Speciale per i Beni Archeo-
logici di Napoli e Pompei.
The exhibition in Wash-
ington is made possible by
The Exhibition Circle of
the National Gallery of Art.
It is also made possible
by Mr. and Mrs. Joe L.
Allbritton.
documenting the finds spawned a rage for antique styles,
and reproductions of antiquities became a major industry that
Bank of America is proud
to be the national sponsor.
continued throughout the nineteenth century. Sir Lawrence
Alma-Tadema and other artists specialized in paintings such
The exhibition in Wash-
ington is also supported
as A Sculpture Gallery, 1874, in which Pompeian antiquities are
by The Charles Engelhard illustrated in exacting detail (fig. 16). The ancient works of
Foundation and by Mary art excavated (and still being found) at the buried cities and
and Michael Jaharis. villas along the Bay of Naples affected the art, design, and
Additional funding in culture of Europe and eventually North America, where even
Washington is provided rooms in the United States Capitol were decorated in the
by the John J. Medveckis
Foundation and the
Pompeian style.
Malcolm Hewitt Wiener
Foundation. This brochure was written by Susan M. Arensberg with Rebecca Molholt, department
of exhibition programs, and produced by the publishing office, National Gallery
The exhibition is supported
of Art. Copyright © 2008 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
by an indemnity from
the Federal Council on the Works of art from Italian collections lent under the authority of the Soprintendenza
Arts and the Humanities. Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei.