Representations of Pompeii and

Herculaneum over time

Pompeii and Herculaneum have been represented by art, writers, filmmakers and poets, both factually and fictionally, from the time excavations began in the 18th C.

Over time... Early representations focused on

the neoclassical aspects of art and architecture.

As discoveries continued 18th and 19th century representations focused on the human disaster

In the 21st century, with the addition of further archaeological discoveries and technology the focus has been on virtual reconstructions of the physical and human elements. Fiorelli’s plaster castes have become the iconic symbol of the Vesuvian disaster

The Oldest Image of Vesuvius

This painting of Vesuvius was discovered in1879 on a wall in the Casa del Centenario, one of the largest houses in Pompeii. Bacchus is pictured standing before the mountain; at the time Vesuvius was covered in vineyards.

http://www.vesuvius.tomgidwitz.com/html/the_oldest_image_of_vesuvius.html

Novels... Edward Bulwer-Lytton, E (1834): The last

days of Pompeii - most famous Pompeii novel, structured like a crime story -- as an account of people's last moments of life, based on deductions about their activities from the physical evidence. Multiple film adaptations.

Robert Harris (2003): Pompeii - A Novel – It is an historical fiction with a blend of fictional characters with the real-life eruption of Mount Vesuvius , especially notable for the author's references to various aspects of vulcanology and use of the Roman calenda

Neoclassical Art

Mid-18th Century to Early-19th Century Neoclassical Art is a severe and unemotional

form of art harkening back to the grandeur of ancient Greece and Rome.

Some examples will be shown on the next few slides...

Theodore Chasseriau(1819-56)

Description: Open Triclinium in the So-called House of Actaeon in Pompeii. Ink and watercolor on paper, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The scene depicted is an open area within the House of Actaeon, more commonly known as the House of Sallust; it was built during the second century B.C. and rediscovered in excavations that took place between 1806 and 1809

Mertens, J. R. (1981). A Drawing by Chasseriau, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15, 153 – 156.

Francois Mazois ‘Ruins of Pompeii’

Engraved illustration from the second volume of Francois Mazois's Ruines de Pompei, published in Paris in 1824

Description: Xystus and Triclinium Beneath a Vine Arbor. Engraving from Franqois Mazois, Les Ruines de Pompei (Paris, 1824)

Mertens, J. R. (1981). A Drawing by Chasseriau, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15, 153 – 156.

Francois Mazois

Description: Small Triclinium Beneath a Vine Arbor in Pompeii. Engraving from Francois Mazois, Le Palais de Scaurus, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1822)

Mertens, J. R. (1981). A Drawing by Chasseriau, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15, 153 – 156.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi(1720-78)

Description: The Tomb of the Istacidi, Pompeii The scene depicted here is located close to the Herculaneum gates and

can still be found today. Everything is, however, rather more modest in appearance than this drawing would indicate

http://www.smk.dk/en/explore-the-art/highlights/giovanni-battista-piranesi-the-tomb-of-the-istacidi-pompeii/

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778, Rome)

Description: View through the Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii Piranesi made this drawing in the last months of his life. Etched at a later

date by his son Francesco Piranesi, the study corresponds to a plate published in Antiquities de la Grande Grèce (Paris, 1804)

http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/459659

Jakob Philipp Hackert (Prenzlau 1737 – San Piero di

Careggi 1807) The Excavations at Pompeii Description: View of the Ruins of Pompeii surrounded by

Vineyards, the Lake of Salerno in the distance, bounded by lofty mountains and in the foreground, adorned with cattle and figures

http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/608992

Romanticism Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual

movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe.

It stressed strong emotion (which now might include trepidation, awe, and horror as visual experiences).

Romanticism is also noted for its elevation of the achievements of what it perceived as heroic individuals and artists.

Some examples will be shown on the next few slides…

Karl Pavlovich Briullov [1799-1852]

http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2011/11/karl-pavlovich-briullov-1799-1852.html

Karl Pavlovich Briullov

[1799-1852]

http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2011/11/karl-pavlovich-briullov-1799-1852.html

Pierre Jacques Volaire The Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, c. 1770s, oil, Private Collection

http://artseverydayliving.com/blog/2014/08/arts-everyday-living-55/

Pierre Jacques Volaire Vesuvius, c. 1770s, oil, Collection not known

http://artseverydayliving.com/blog/2014/08/arts-everyday-living-55/

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes

The Eruption of Vesuvius Valenciennes witnessed a Vesuvius eruption in August 1779, and he used his

impressions in this depiction of the eruption of 79 AD. He shows the death of Pliny the Elder on the shore at Stabie.

http://www.vesuvius.tomgidwitz.com/html/the_death_of_pliny.html

Pompeii in filmThe Last Days of Pompeii

1913 1935 1960

Pompeii in Film... Recent representations

Pompeii: The Last Day (2003) A dramatized documentary that

recreates of the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

Pompeii (2014) A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race

against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him

Virtual Reality Representation of past spaces through animation and

reconstruction stills, particularly in the fields of television and film.

Based on the development of novel computing solutions to the modelling, representation and interpretation of space in the archaeological past.

Computer modelling provides a unique appreciation of the site and its context.

The House of Julius Polybius

10 min virtual-reality film The spectator is led to discover the many rooms of that

palatial house in full detail, including the exact position of everyday objects precisely as they were found minutes before the explosion of the volcano in AD 79

For more info, visit: http://www.archaeologychannel.org/video-main-menu/video-guide-main/video-guide-summary/254-the-house-of-julius-polybius

The Pompeii Forum Project:

360-degree virtual reality scenes from different parts of the city, images of selected sites, and a "walking" tour of Pompeii's streets.

Visit: http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Pompeii/map/Pompeii.html

SFCI Archive: Virtual Pompeii (1996)

Visit: http://vimeo.com/25042731