Identifier: pompeiiitslifear00maua (find matches)
Title: Pompeii, its life and art
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Mau, August, 1840-1909 Kelsey, Francis W. (Francis Willey), 1858-1927
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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be understood. But with the first two in mind, we areable to see clearly how the most complex forms of the laterdecoration may be reduced, in last analysis, to simple elements.Even in the example of the Intricate Style given in Plate XIII,we find a suggestion of the threefold division of the wall intobase, main part, and upper part, which was so prominent in theIncrustation Style; and also an elaborate structural form at themiddle of the wall recalling the pavilion framework of the sec-ond style, with a symmetrical arrangement of the architecturaldesigns on either side, suggesting the panels at the sides of theprincipal painting. The slabs of colored marble in the Incrustation Style are rep-resented by panels for pictures or ornamental forms of all slfapesand sizes ; and the architectural designs, so simple at the begin-ning, have by almost imperceptible changes and additions be-come decorative patterns so varied and intricate that taken bythemselves they give no hint of their origin.
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CHAPTER LV THE PAINTINGS The hanging of pictures upon the walls seems not to havebeen in vogue at Pompeii during the period to which the re-mains belong. The system of decoration left no room forframed paintings, and no traces of any such have been dis-covered. The paintings which have been preserved at Pom-peii, not merely the small groups and single figures introducedto enliven the design, but the large compositions as well, allformed a part of the wall decoration. The number is relatively large. In the catalogue by Helbig,published in 1868, there are nearly two thousand entries, in-cluding a few paintings from Herculaneum and other Cam-panian sites. The supplement compiled by Sogliano in 1879records more than eight hundred pictures brought to light inthe preceding decade. We are probably safe in estimating thewhole number of Pompeian paintings still in existence, or knownfrom description, as about thirty-five hundred. In all this wealth of examples, however, it is not possible tofi

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