Roman Fresco Fragment - Annunciation Scene

Roman, ca. 1st century BCE. An important fresco depicting 5 figures in an architectural setting. Alighting from the right, the winged goddess Victory (Greek Nike) gestures to a kneeling orant. Donning a laurel wreath in her coiffure, a russet red garment with folds of drapery skillfully delineated, and a contrasting white sash billowing across her body, she holds a caduceus in her left hand and a wreath in her right as the supplicant, with an upswept curly coiffure adorned by a band and wearing a chiton with a green himation flowing around her neck and legs, reaches for it. Venus (Greek Aphrodite) sits to the left with a pair of playful Cupids behind. Meanwhile, Venus, goddess of love and beauty, dons a sky blue himation over a periwinkle blue peplos, and a gold diadem adorns her flowing locks. A classical column occupies the right foreground, a white dove hovers to the right, and a white groundline underscores the scene. Note: some have suggested that this composition may prefigure Christian Annunciation iconography. Size: 23" W x 14" H (58.4 cm x 35.6 cm)

The ancient fresco technique involved applying saturated pigments into wet lime-rich plaster, and only the wealthiest, most elite Romans adorned their houses with these elaborate wall paintings which required immense skill to create. Art historians have identified four styles of wall painting. This example aligns closest with the Second Pompeiian Style - also known as the architectural style - which was popular during the 1st century BCE. This style was characterized by illusionism whereby the walls were painted with architectural elements framing compositions that fooled the eye into believing they were real via a trompe l'oeil effects. The column in this example was a widely embraced device used by the Romans to divide the wall space into zones and convince viewers of three-dimensional imagery by pushing the picture plane further back from the wall. The artist of this piece also successfully achieved naturalism in the visual imagery via subtle tonal changes, modeling the figures with color and shading, and suggesting depth with foreshortening.

Another aspect of Roman wall painting to appreciate are the brilliant colors which contrast with the white hues of surviving ancient marble sculpture. Scholars have demonstrated that classical sculptures were actually originally brightly painted; however, the pigments have worn away over the ages. Thankfully, ancient wall paintings demonstrate the bold coloration that embellished ancient visual culture. What's more while some of the most impressive artists of the Classical world were painters, sadly, many of their creations were painted on wood panels and have disappeared due to the perishable nature of this material. Thankfully, other forms of Classical art such as vase paintings, mosaics, and even a few fresco fragments like this example - many surviving from Pompeii and Herculaneum buried under the ash of a volcanic eruption in the year 79 CE - have survived the tests of time and can provide a means of understanding ancient painting techniques.

Provenance: ex-private Chicago, Illinois, USA collection; acquired from the Merrin Gallery, New York, August 31, 1989

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#141808
Condition Report: Repaired from several fragments with minor fill in the breaks and in the losses. Expected surface wear with pigment loss, minor chips, and cracks commensurate with age. Edges are not smooth. Black felt and suspension hooks on verso.