PAINTINGS AND MOSAICS IN POMPEII

The most remarkable objects with which the interiors of Pompeii reward the labour of excavation, are paintings and mosaics. Frequent mention of these branches of art will be made in the course of this volume, and it seems expedient therefore to collect in a prefatory chapter such information respecting them as has been gathered by the diligence of learned men either from personal observation, or from the scattered notices of ancient writers. The subject of working in mosaic will not occupy us long. The art is still exercised with success, at least equal to that of the Roman workmen, as is proved by the magnificent copies of some of the best pictures of Italian masters recently executed in the Vatican. The most remarkable circumstance connected with the practice of it in ancient times is the profusion with which mosaics were produced, insomuch that the dwellings of a second-rate town abound in specimens rich enough to be transferred to the palaces of Naples, and to be enumerated among their most precious ornaments. The expense of such works is now so great, that they are rarely to be seen even in palaces.

The mosaics of Pompeii are chiefly composed of black frets, or meandering patterns, on a white ground, or white ones on a black ground : some of them, however, are executed in coloured marbles. We may refer to Mr. Donaldson's work on Pompeii, which contains coloured drawings of several, for a better notion of these beautiful floors, than our means enable us to give. In the same work are contained the plans of eight others, all elegant, and most of them intricate, taken from the Suburban villa; one of which is remarkable for being surrounded by a city wall with gates and towers; probably taken from that which then existed at Pompeii. The materials of which they are chiefly composed, are small pieces of black and white marble, and red tile, some largerthan others, so as to take deeper hold in the mortar than the rest, and thus form a sort of bonding course, which gave stability to the whole.

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