A Roman Wall Painting Fragment Length 23 inches.

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.E.-1ST CENTURY C.E.

painted in vibrant, bright pigment, preserving a five-figure composition within an architectural setting, the goddess Nike alighting from the right toward an orant kneeling before her, the goddess with her wings outstretched, wearing a rich red voluminous garment with deep folds, a white sash billowing over her right shoulder, a wreath of laurel in her hair, a caduceus held forth in her left hand, proffering a wreath toward the supplicant before her who reaches up toward Nike with her right hand, clad in a yellow long-sleeved belted chiton with a green himation wrapped around her neck and legs, her curly hair bound in a band and arranged in a chignon, further to the left the goddess Venus seated regally wearing a pale blue himation over a deep blue peplos, a long staff in her right hand, bejeweled with armlets and a gold diadem in her long tresses, two nude winged Cupids frolicking behind, a column in the right foreground, a bird further to the right, the white groundline with a block of green below.

Length 23 inches.

Provenence: Acquired from the Merrin Gallery, New York, August 31, 1989 Note: The fresco technique, developed in antiquity, was a durable wall-painting enhancement process that was comprised of the application of rich pigments onto still-wet lime plaster. In the Roman period the method was employed to adorn the homes of the wealthiest and most elite echelons of society. Still preserved in quantity in the cities preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in the environs of the Bay of Naples in 79 C.E., Roman domestic frescoes can also be found sprinkled throughout the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Art historians have categorized Roman wall painting into four distinct styles, with varying degrees of figural and architectural detailing, each developing seamlessly from the other. Without further indication of the decorative scheme surrounding the present scene, it cannot be categorically placed in this definitive framework. However, the architectural elements do reveal similarities to the so-called Second Pompeiian Style, popular throughout the 1st century B.C.E. The bold colors of Roman frescoes indeed contrast with the stark white of preserved ancient marble sculpture. Sculptures would also have originally been brightly painted. Therefore, ancient wall paintings are one of the most illustrative examples of the bold tints that enriched ancient material culture. It has been suggested that the composition on this fresco prefigures the iconography of the Christian Annunciation.