Art In Pompeii
On May 16th, 2019, Antonello drove us to Mount Vesuvius from a small Airbnb we’d rented on Corso Umberto, in the heart of Naples. Just a day ago, I had spent the evening gazing at the spectacle that is Vesuvio bathed in the warm hues of the setting sun, standing at Castel dell’Ovo, a charming place of rest after our long walk to the coast, next to the gulf of Naples, with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean Sea.
The road leading upto the entry of Vesuvio winds through the Mount Vesuvius National Park. Now, one would think that climbing a volcano, and a very active one at that, would be at least a little bit eerie. But one would be wrong. If anything, the drive was delightful and the hike to the top was even better. With the wind in my hair, beautiful flowers springing from the cracks of what once was lumps of hot lava, pumice and ash on one side and aerial views of Naples and the Tyrrhenian sea on the other, I was in heaven.
The Campania-n giant stands 4,203 feet tall, and is the only active volcano on mainland Europe. The trail to the top is lined by local artisans selling jewels, accessories and charms made of coal from its belly.
Vesuvio is known to have an eruption cycle of about 20 years. It has had 50 eruptions in its very very long life and the last serious one was recorded in 1944 (tik tok, I guess). But today, we are talking about the one that happened in 79 AD. The one that wiped out multiple city wide populations in less than 24 hours. The one that ruined ancient Roman civilisation in Southern Italy. The one that attracts more than 2.8 million tourists every year. The one that wrecked Pompeii and destroyed Herculaneum.
Pompeii was once a flourishing town and the hottest vacation spot for wealthy ancient Romans, riddled with luxurious villas, gymnasiums, baths and plenty of entertainment. Till it all came to a staggering halt in 79 AD. When Vesuvius erupted, it sent a blast of hot volcanic gases carrying ashes, pumice and rocks that settled on the town as debris, clogging the air, burying the buildings and drowning everything in them in ash. It was like a big blanket of darkness that both killed a civilisation and preserved it perfectly for us to marvel at today.
The volcano buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. The dust “poured across the land” like a flood, one witness wrote, and shrouded the city in “a darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.” (History.com)
So, when I wandered into the great city of Pompeii in the summer of 2019 (after a very eventful morning of climbing a volcano), it was as if I had traveled back in time. It is a peculiar place. Right at the entrance there were temperature-controlled facilities to preserve human bodies that were ancient, yet somehow completely intact. There were recognizable gardens, mansions and even a Roman amphitheater scattered through the protected area, reminiscent of the sparkling lifestyle its residents once enjoyed. Among the ruins, were several mosaics, frescoes and sculptures adorning the walls that were still standing, thousands of years after the catastrophe.
Fresco was a widely used mural-painting technique between the 1200s and 1600s, before it was replaced by oil painting. Artists in Italy painted incredible art pieces with water-based paints on wet plaster, which caused a chemical reaction when the carbon dioxide from the air mixed with the calcium hydrate in the plaster to produce calcium carbonate, as the plaster hardened. This was called a true fresco and a true fresco wouldn’t peel off the walls over time. The course of time saw two kinds of fresco painters- the ones who made detailed drawings before starting the painting, and the ones who lived on the edge and painted spontaneously (since they could only paint on wet plaster, they had limited time and often finished spectacular life-size paintings in a span of 2-7 days).
According to Cennini, Fresco was the most delightful technique, probably because the painter could pour out ideas with immediacy, vivacity, and intensity. (History of Italian Renaissance Art)
Getting the colors right with fresco was tricky because the quality and depth of the colors depended on the dryness of the plaster at the time of application. The humidity and temperature of the space also had to be meticulously controlled, since frescoes didn’t do well in the cold. Sometimes a second layer of paint was added on the dry plaster for details. This process was called Secco, and the new layer would sooner or later peel off the surface.
The frescoes of Pompeii were of various styles. Some were inspired by everyday architectural objects, others by scenes that created an illusion of being outdoors while you were indoors, some were intricate panels from mythological themes and some even showed off subtle Egyptian themes and motifs.
Mosaics are an ancient Greek art form that gained widespread popularity in the Byzantine period. They are also perhaps one of the best examples of Gestalt’s Law of Proximity. A medium used primarily for floors, they are designs made with tessera, i.e. small pieces of material like stone, tile, glass or shell that are arranged and stuck to the surface in a meaningful way, to render a whole picture or pattern. Floor and ceiling mosaics are a very common occurrence in cathedrals and palaces in Italy. The coolest thing about them is that once disassembled, they can’t be reassembled to look the same. They are 100% unique every time.
Originally mosaics restricted themselves to motifs and geometric patterns, and then eventually developed into a full blown art style used to depict epic scenes from mythology and history. They were often used to communicate subtext, to say what remained unsaid otherwise- for instance the entrances and patios of many ancient residences in Pompeii feature black and white mosaics of dogs, bearing their teeth to signify that the property was being guarded to scare off intruders.
Another interesting type of art to look out for, while you’re in Pompeii, is the colorful marble patchwork inlays from the ancient Greek period. This of course was a luxury to have in your dwelling, so the not-so-rich Romans found a loophole and started painting the texture of marble on their walls to mimic the real thing. #Jugaad.
This was everything I saw on Mount Vesuvius and at Pompeii that day, and everything I saw left me in awe of what nature can do and what man can do. Really makes you think. Ohh, also I bought this super cute starfish pendant made of Vesuvius ash!
