Pompeian Frescoes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, witnessed by the Younger Pliny, has preserved for posterity a treasure of early Imperial Roman art and artifacts. Most notable, perhaps, are the wall frescoes of Pompeii and the surrounding towns of Herculaneum, Boscoreale, and Boscotrecase. This monograph celebrates the conservation and installation of the Roman frescoes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the largest collection of Roman frescoes outside Italy. The publication includes detailed reconstructions of the villas at Boscoreale and Boscotrecase. These frescoes give us, nearly two millennia later, an in-depth insight to everyday life, ranging from the wild parties Petronius described in the Satyricon to tastefully intimate scenes, as well as scenes from classical mythology and architectural details. Author Maxwell Anderson first gives us a background of painting in Rome and Pompeii, covering each of the major styles. The author then goes on to describe in detail the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale and the Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase, each accompanied by an in-depth description and images of individual frescoes, both in their entirety and in detail, and oblique floor plans.
