Panel 3.22 – Local styles or common pattern books in roman wall painting and mosaics


Organiser/Chair:

  • Renate Thomas (Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Köln)


     

Speakers:

Panel abstract

This panel will concern the question whether it is possible to identify local workshops in Italy and the roman provinces or whether the organization of a workshop with a changing constellation of painters and the common use of pattern books does imply an almost universal stylistic development throughout the whole Roman Empire. Do the economic resources of the workshops have an influence on the quality of the painting and for example the choice of special expensive colors? Up to which degree can changing dependences be observed between wall painting and mosaics concerning forms and patterns.

 

Paper abstracts

1. Renate Thomas (Römisch-Germanisches Museum)

Musterbücher in der römischen Wandmalerei
Es ist zu beobachten, dass in der römischen Wandmalerei an weit voneinander entfernten Orten ähnliche Motive und Muster erscheinen. Dieses Phänomen lässt sich nur mit Musterbüchern erklären, die den Werkstätten zur Verfügung standen. In dem Vortrag soll es darum gehen zu zeigen, woher die Vorlagen in den Musterbüchern kommen, woraus sie sich zusammensetzen und wie sie von den Werkstätten oder einzelnen Malern individuell mit einander kombiniert, ergänzt, gespiegelt oder verändert werden können.

"Antike Musterbücher" (Fulltext)

 

2. Irene Bragantini (Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale")

Pittori e pitture tra l’Italia e le province occidentali
Affrontare il tema dell’economia della produzione della pittura romana rimane un compito non facile e siamo ancora ben lontani dall’aver raggiunto un consenso su questo argomento, mentre l’evidenza archeologica continua ad essere sollecitata per fornire informazioni sul sistema dei rivestimenti funzionali e decorativi, risultanti dalla collaborazione tra artigiani diversi. Entrando in un ambiente decorato, l’osservatore non percepiva alcuna interruzione tra le superfici di pareti, pavimento e soffitto: dal momento che i diversi gruppi di artigiani entravano sul cantiere in momenti diversi e con materiali diversi, come dobbiamo considerare questa circostanza? Si tratta di un caso? O di un intento perseguito, che necessitava pertanto di un coordinamento tra i diversi gruppi di artigiani?
Riscontriamo la stessa situazione nelle province, in particolare in quelle occidentali, che attestano una diffusa adesione al modello italico, come confermato e ulteriormente evidenziato da rinvenimenti recenti. Come si produce questa uniformità? Si è ipotizzata l’esistenza di pittori itineranti, ai quali sarebbe dovuta questa diffusione. Considerando il modo in cui la pittura è prodotta e la necessità della collaborazione tra diverse manualità, possiamo considerare questa una ipotesi valida ? Come avrebbe potuto funzionare questo sistema? E come dobbiamo considerare questa evidenza, confrontandola con contesti delle stesse zone che presentano realtà diverse?

"Pittori e pitture tra l’Italia e le province occidentali" (Fulltext)

 

3. Clelia Sbrolli and Monica Salvadori (University of Padova)

Nilotic landscapes and pygmies in the pictorial production of a "Fourth-Style" workshop in Pompeii
The paper aims to analyze the pictorial production of a high-profile pompeian workshop of “Fourth Style”.
In particular, the depictions of nilotic landscapes from different urban contexts (Sarno Baths, House of Pygmies) will be studied in order to recognize the work of the same painters’ workshop. The research will be conducted through the detailed analysis of the different aspects of the composition: construction; narrative groups; figurative elements; use of color and pictorial technique.

"Paesaggi nilotici e pigmei nella produzione di un’officina pittorica di IV Stile a Pompei" workshop in Pompeii" (Fulltext)

 

4. Eric Moormann (Radboud Universiteit) / Domenico Esposito (Freie Universität Berlin)

Roman Wall Painting Under the Flavians: Continuation or New Developments?
Since August Mau’s distinction of the four Pompeian Styles, the last of them has caused a lot of discussion as to its genesis, development, and end, whereas the first, second and third styles seem to be rather well defined and clearly recognisable. Nowadays most scholars see a rather lengthy era of the Fourth Style, that is the second half of the first century, maybe even continuing until the time of Hadrian. Within this long period – and already in the Vesuvian towns only – distinction has been made between Claudio-Neronian and Flavian paintings, although the chronology is not easy. Such distinctions have often been based on ill-defined stylistic criteria, since the hard chronological data were long time neglected. Having a greater insight into some chronologically well-defined cases, we may cast a closer look onto the material and try to get a better outcome.
In these two papers the speakers want to reconsider data and opinions concerning the material in central Italy, the heartland of the development of fashions in Roman mural painting, and try to answer the question put in the title.

"Roman Wall Painting under the Flavians: Continuation or New Developments?" (Fulltext)

 

5. Coralini Antonella (University of Bologna)

Local styles in Roman Apulia
As demonstrated by the last International Colloque of the Association for the Ancient Wall Painting (Lausanne, 2016), a lot of work remains to be done for a deeper knowledge of ancient painting, region by region.
Nowadays, beyond the Vesuvian sites, there is a lack of systematic researches about the material evidence in Roman Italy and consequently it is very difficult to verify the presence of local styles.
A very interesting case-study is the territorial and cultural areas of the actual Puglia (Daunia, Tarentino and Messapia), where the styles from the Central Italy seem to have been transposed and reworked into forms often original.

"Local styles in Roman Apulia" (Fulltext)

 

6. Stella Falzone (Centro Studi Pittura Romana Ostiense) / Paolo Tomassini (Université catholique de Louvain) / Martina Marano (Centro Studi Pittura Romana Ostiense) 

Decorating the Harbour of Rome: Dynamics of Production and Craftsmanship in Ostian Wall Paintings
The painted decorations of Ostian insulae are known by all for their excellent preservation state and for the importance they represent as one of the only testimonies of Ancient Wall Painting from the 2nd to the 5th c. AD. However, it is surprising to see they have never been studied through a technical point of view, using them as a medium to understand the production dynamics of the workshops. The Hadrianic complex of the Case a Giardino constitutes an excellent case of studies, where we can follow the practice of a single atelier, working together with the builders of the building and replicating the same models in a very short span of time. Recent studies have shown a very different situation for previous periods, in the Republican and Alto-imperial times, where local workshops of very high level operated in various points of the city, painting decorations worthy of the richest domus in Rome. Between the 1st and the 2nd c. AD, the status itself of wall painting becomes different, and it is well reflected in Ostia, where we see a radical change in the technique and in the quality of the decorations. This paper will try to understand the reasons of that change and to propose a first synthesis of the Research laid by the Centro Studi Pittura Romana Ostiense in the last years, in order to reconstruct the working practices of Ostian painters through time.

"Painters of Ostia: Reconstructing Production Dynamics and Craftsmanship of Ostian Wall Paintings" (Fulltext)

 

7. Barbara Tober (Universität Salzburg)

Ephesos – Palmyra – Noricum. Room Decoration as an International Code for Living with Images under the Roman Imperial Period
Eclectic features of post-Pompeii wall painting systems make classification and dating without stratigraphic and architectural-historical results difficult. The wide range of painting systems common in the 2nd and 3rd century AD presents only a few general, stylistic characteristics. An analysis of the use of painting systems in the terrace houses of Ephesos, and the distribution of stucco and wall-painting friezes in a building in Palmyra has revealed specific parameters that serve to impart the status of a room and its hierarchy within a house. In the Roman province of Noricum some complexes with wall paintings and mosaic floors allow an applicability check of this hypothesis. Decorations in Ephesos, Palmyra and Noricum feature strong stylistic, iconographical and technical differences. At each site, local workshops labor with a distinctly articulated style. And yet one common code for living with images, which seems to be international during the middle of the Roman imperial period, exists at all the widespread sites.

"Room Decoration as an International Code for Living with Images during the Roman Imperial Period" (Fulltext)

 

8. Katharina Meinecke

Pattern Books or Textiles as a Means of Transfer? The Example of the Grid Pattern
An extremely popular pattern across the Roman and Byzantine world was a grid made up of lozenges, which could enclose different iconographical motifs, e.g. small human or animal figures, birds, plants, vessels, or more abstract ornaments such as rosettes and spades. It is attested in any kind of 2-dimensional interior decoration, in wall paintings, stucco, and mosaics, examples ranging from early imperial wall paintings, as in the Villa Varano in Stabiae, to Late Antique church mosaics in the Near East (6th cent.). The same pattern is even found on 3-dimensional objects such as the Byzantine silver bucket from the Vrap treasure (7th cent.).
One possible explanation, especially for the occurrence in different 2-dimensional media, may be that painters, who made the designs, were shared among workshops. The wide geographical and chronological persistence of the pattern as well as its occurrence on 3-dimensional objects may rather point to the use of pattern books. The grid pattern is also frequent on textiles though. Especially on some of the late church mosaics and on the Vrap bucket, the bold and simple motifs filling the lozenges resemble the textile patterns. Could, particularly in Late Antiquity, the textiles, which were easy to transport and widely desired as an elite marker, have replaced pattern books as a means of transfer?
Exemplified by the grid pattern, this paper seeks to explore the possibilities of pattern books and textiles as modes of transfer for iconographies.

"Pattern Books or Textiles as a Means of Transfer? The Example of the Grid Pattern" (Fulltext)

 

9. Erhan Aydoğdu Rhan and Ali Kazım Öz (Dokuz Eylul University)

Geometrical Analysis of the Triple Leaf Pattern in Metropolis
In this paper, the triple leaf pattern located in the floor mosaics of the Reception Hall in Metropolis ancient city has been analyzed geometrically. It has been determined that the triple leaf pattern considered as a floral pattern had been derived from the solution of a geometry problem. In addition, by comparing the abstract state and the actual state of the pattern, the effect of practical necessities arising from the material and workmanship on the pattern has been evaluated. This standart drawing obtained geometrically reveals stylistic development of the pattern, from the regular leaf pattern to the twisted leaf figure. It has been thought that geometry studies on mosaics could contribute to the studies about identification of the local workshops in Roman period and to the conservation practices.

"Geometrical Analysis of the Triple Leaf Pattern in Metropolis" (Fulltext)

 

10. Simone Dilaria, Cristina Boschett, Claudio Mazzoli and Monica Salvadori (University of Padova)

Making Roman mosaics in Aquileia (I BC – IV AD): technology, style and workshop practices. Two case studies from Domus delle Bestie ferite
The aim of this research is the analysis of mosaic materials and the identification of the practice of making in Aquileia, discussing two emblematic case studies from Domus delle Bestie Ferite, built in the late Republica and rebuilt and redecorated until the Late antiquity.
We analyzed in detail two representative mosaics dated to the middle-late 1st century BC and to the 4th century AD, respectively. We will display the technical changes involved in their production. Our methodology integrates the visual examination to the archaeometric analysis (OM, XRPD, SEM) of mortars and tesserae, in order to understand the constructive process of mosaics in all their phases: from the setting of the foundations to the laying of the surface.
The first case study is a fine example of geometric mosaic, with figural elements. In its production, we recognized high quality standards. The tesserae include mainly local limestones, with some marbles and few glasses in the figural panels, certainly the most prestigious parts.
The other case study is the so called mosaic delle Bestie ferite, from the subject represented. This mosaic is characterized by a certain degree of inaccuracy in the setting of mortars and tesserae, despite marble, glass and gold-leaf tesserae were used extensively.
The analysis of the two mosaics allowed us to discuss issues related to the social organization of decorator teams in Aquileia and to evaluate the concept of quality throughout five centuries of mosaic production.

"Making Roman Mosaics in Aquileia (I BC – IV AD): Technology, Materials, Style and Workshop Practices. Two Case Studies from the insula della Casa delle Bestie Ferite" (Fulltext)