Perspective and Geometry in the Roman Painted Gardens (original) (raw)
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In his ground-breaking article “Perspektive als symbolische Form” Erwin Panofsky argued for the fundamental significance of modes of spatial depiction in the visual arts for cultural history. In line with Panofsky’s approach, changing modes of spatial depiction in Graeco-Roman art have been interpreted as indicators of cultural historical change too, as e.g. in Tonio Hölscher´s important works on changing images of war. This paper adopts a different approach. Differences in the modes of spatial depiction are explained as media phenomena responding to the specificities of picture-genres. Taking the very different treatments of ‘landscape’ in Attic vase-painting (treated as a contrasting comparandum) and in Romano-Campanian wall-painting as a case-study, my aim is to demonstrate how these differences correspond to the respective types of decoration, their specific requirements and their context: Athenian drinking vessels for the symposion and adorned walls as decorum of the Roman upper-class-house.
The architectural perspectives in the villa of Oplontis, a space over the real
Essential element of architectural design in the villa of Oplontis, the wall decoration is characterized by the research of daring perspectives tending to dilate the surfaces of the interior environments: these are paintings in II and III style that depict architectural perspectives according to a marked taste for the theatrical stage design applied to painted decoration; it’s aimed to determine the illusion of environments that you happen endlessly in a game of feints architectures, often processed with extreme wisdom. The working method is related to the establishing the relationship between the container and the space created by the perspective illusion and has its starting point in rigorous photogrammetric survey technique and rendering; then it move on to examine the specialties of roman painting, analyzing both the general characteristics and specific aspects. This study also uses of a philological analysis with reference to vitruvian rules and to greek-romans typologies in order to reconstruct the painted space; finally the painted space, in 3d model, is recomposed with real space, thin to land to representations more effective than they allow to gather better still the experience of a quite new space, in a reconstruction of the architecture integrated by the illusion, as if it were real In this simulation of virtual spaces, the digital graphics helps to lead the experimentation that is developing, as part of the PRIN 2010-2011 research (Architectural Perspective: digital preservation, content access and analytics, scientific coordinator Riccardo Migliari), by the Salerno Unit, with the annexed unities (University of Naples ‘Federico II’, Second University of Naples, University of Basilicata). Of this research, which puts particular attention to the architectural, archaeological and iconographical heritage in Campania, are presented here only part of the achieved outcomes.
Modes of Viewing the Urban Landscapes and Public Gardens of Early Imperial Rome
Adalya, 2021
It has been claimed that with Augustus, the Roman Empire and its capital underwent a transformation that divided them into well-defined and controllable spaces based on a rational use of information. Emperors like Domitian established a sort of symbolic and physical domination over their subjects by creating a medium of surveillance which is observable in architecture and sculpture as well as in literature. Yet the functions of early imperial public gardens and urban landscapes like the Campus Martius and the plot on which the Domus Aurea rose have not been fully explored in this respect. This article aims to demonstrate how viewing, gazing and surveilling operated symbolically in these spaces through architecture and sculpture by using Foucaultian concepts such as “heterotopia” and “surveillance” as well as “imperial gaze.” The gaze of the emperor was directed to the heterotopic microcosms created in public gardens and urban landscapes, and also to individuals - elite and commoners alike - within them. This is an “imperial gaze,” a subjective, epistemological, juridical mode of viewing that tends to categorize the landscape, its constituents and its activities within from an elevated point.
Chronika, 2016
The recent villa and garden excavations of the Villa ad Gallinas at Prima Porta have inspired a new discourse regarding the villa, its gardens, and decoration. 1 Building on earlier discussions regarding transformative themes in the wall paintings and scientific identifications of the painted plants in the villa's famous Garden Room, we suggest that the garden may be read as a populated space of figures and not merely as a garden composed of plants. Utilizing green-screen technology with staged interactions in front of and with the painting, we identify viewers as critical components of the wall paintings' composition. Our green-screen recreation of the underground paintings points to an intentional choreography between the painting and viewer. The paintings of the Garden Room are formulated to accommodate observation by reclining diners while simultaneously eliciting garden-like strolling along the room's walls, as if the room were a real garden, blurring the distinction between the simulated and the real.
V International Symposium of Mosaic Corpus of Turkiye (Kahramanmara, 28-30 June 2011), 2012
Even if the figurative mosaics are usually the ones to catch the attention of the archeologists and the public, we cannot deny the meaning of the geometrical and the floral motives for the study of the mosaics landscape in the roman world. The combination of the different motives, the colors chosen for each motive and their combination can help to identify the influences that determined the making of the pavements. East and West of the Roman Empire are no exceptions to this phenomenon.
GARDEN PAINTINGS OF POMPEII: CONTEXT AND MEANING By
2016
Garden paintings are ubiquitous in Campanian wall painting. This thesis examines the garden compositions of Pompeii. Despite the large number of well-preserved garden frescoes, these scenes have received relatively little attention from modem scholars. Yet following the earthquake of 62 A.D. they were among the first elements to be repaired by the inhabitants of Pompeii. Furthermore, due to the ephemeral nature of real gardens, garden paintings provide valuable information about the typical plantings, landscaping, decoration, and furnishings found in ancient viridaria. Chapter 1 surveys the gardens and depictions of gardens found in the vicinity of Rome, including funerary gardens, market gardens, private imperial gardens, and public horti. Garden paintings from Livia's Villa at Prima Porta, the Auditorium of Maecenas, the Domus Publica, the Farnesina House, and the Tomb of Patro are discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 gives a detailed description of the types of features and
A Green Thought in a Green Shade, 2020
This essay offers a reading of Sir Thomas Browne’s The Garden of Cyrus (1658) in connection with the light thrown on it by one of Browne’s most ardent devotees, i.e. the German writer Winfried Georg Sebald (1944-2001). At the same time, The Garden of Cyrus will be analyzed with an eye to the wider context of a relevant essayistic tradition which, in many significant cases, drew inspiration from the literary topos of the garden. Finally, a close reading will reveal how the main subject of Browne’s text proves to be the quincunx, a geometrical pattern through which the author, as if spurred by an irrepressible exegetical/esoteric enthusiasm, set out to find a principle of metaphysical design in all Creation.
Painting paradise: the art of the garden
Choice Reviews Online, 2015
The principle of painting art has penetrated into all aspects of landscape design, whether in the surface of two-dimensional space, the body of three-dimensional space , the time of four-dimensional space, the meaning of five-dimensional space, the meaning of the shape, or in the color of the mix and harmony. The artistic principle of painting permeates into the garden design and at the same time, it push the beauty of gardens to the highest level. 2. Application of point, line and surface In painting, points form the curves, straight lines, slant lines, vertical lines, snake lines and so on through rhythmic movement, and the lines form different surfaces through various arrangements. The accumulation of points, lines, and planes forms a perfect picture. The point we are talking about here is not only two simple modeling elements, more importantly, it represents a theme, with characteristics of points, focus, and accumulation. Where the focus of a painting is, where is the theme of the painting.(1)Similarly, each garden design also has its theme and the main scene, the topic is formed by scattered points, such as the building, the platform, the pavilion, the pavilion and so on. Lines of different natures and forms, such as soft, plump, vital curves, round lines, soothing, flowing serpentine lines, wave lines, heavy, straight vertical lines, and unrestrained and unstable diagonal lines, are used in painting. Draw clouds and draw water to the best of its ability. It not only shows the shape and spirit of the image, but also has the value of formal beauty. In the garden design, existence of line is everywhere, such as the road, the green belt, the flower bed and the promenade design. Through the different form line, it displays the different degree the dynamic feeling, namely the line movement lasting appeal, the rhythm, achieves is firm and soft with each other, has the quality to have the rhyme; In this way, can have a strong artistic charm. The point and the line have some local individuality characteristic, the surface displays for the wholeness and has represented the general character. Only through the combination of point, line and surface can we deal with the relationship between individuality and generality, between part and whole. In painting, a painter often looks at the wholeness, not only a part of it , of an object with his eyes half-closed, that is to say, no matter what line he uses to depict the focal point, the emphasis must be unified in the same background and in the same tone. The same theme atmosphere is forming a unified face. Garden design also follows the fundamental principles of painting art and plastic arts. In the configuration of plant , the shape of trees , color, lines, dry texture and proportion of leaves, all of them have a certain degree of difference and change, showing the delicate and varied points. However, it is necessary to maintain a certain degree of similarity between them so as to bring
Ancient Mediterranean Painting (Vol. 2). Special Issue of "Arts", edited by R. Gee and V. Rousseau, 2019
This article engages with the interplay of two-dimensional and three-dimensional wall decoration in Roman wall decoration of the so-called four Pompeian styles. Instead of describing the rapid changes in the use (or non-use) of techniques for creating perspectival depth in August Mau's four styles within an autonomous development of decorative principles, either favoring surface over depth, or vice versa, this article will discuss the imaginary space/surface on the walls in relation to the 'real' space enclosed by the decorated walls and-foremost-their inhabitants as the actual referent of the decoration. The discussion will focus on second-style wall decoration, with glimpses on the earlier first and later third and fourth styles in a final section.
Chronika, 2017
Following our 2016 analysis of the Garden Room at the Villa ad Gallinas Albas and how its design accommodates viewers and makes them an integral part of its paintings, we now turn our attention toward the content of the paintings themselves. Prompted by recent discussions of how material objects and landscapes can encode meaning textually, we argue that such an approach can be applied to garden spaces, both physical and painted. Furthermore, we argue that aspects of garden design can be used to encode and present meanings to visitors and viewers. In applying the theory of " garden-as-text " to the Garden Room and building upon visual themes previously explored by Barbara Kellum, we find a deep narrative taking place in the garden. Through floral imagery, the Garden Room presents to its viewers a visual narrative not only depicting Augustus as an all-present entity in Rome, but also as a protecting force, bringing new life, safety, and prosperity to a Roman Empire still haunted by the specter of Actium.