This book is the first general history of Roman painting written specifically for English-language readers. Large numbers of wall-paintings have survived from the Roman world, and particularly from Rome itself and from the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79; they include examples of elaborate decorative schemes as well as mythological pictures, landscapes, still lifes, and scenes from everyday life. Their influence upon European artists of the Renaissance and Neo-Classical periods has been considerable. Recent research has provided a much clearer idea of the chronology of these paintings, of their sources of inspiration, and of their meaning to the various classes of patrons who commissioned them. Now for the first time all aspects of our knowledge are brought together in an up-to-date survey. Among other topics the book discusses the so-called Four Pompeian Styles, their spread to the provinces, the broad developments in scheme, style and subject-matter which followed them, the relation of mythological pictures to Greek ‘old masters’, the factors which dictated the choice of particular subjects and the way in which they were represented, the technical processes of ancient wall-painting, and what we know about the painters and the organisation of their workshops.
