Fresco Fragment: Landscapes

From the Getty Museum record

Preserved on the fragment are two rectangular panels with an illusionistic landscape. The scenes are bathed in a light blue-green hue. The scene is based on a right-to-left orientation as the columns in the foreground have shadows. It was once part of the right-hand wall upon entering the room. The yellow shelf at the bottom edge delineates the top of the dado, indicating that the dado was about mid-thigh in height. The painted zone below likely consisted of a series of faux marble panels. The landscape panel at the left is a sketchy evocation of a proscenium temple with a distinctive barrel-vaulted roof. A shield hangs from the side entrance of the pronaos, and a group of figures have an exchange on the temple platform. Other figures stand below. Individual statues can be seen on the roof. The right panel includes a rectangular structure at the bottom, a tholos just beyond it, and another temple to the left. The painted column at the left is encircled with foliage meant to be interpreted as made of metal. The left edge of the fresco reveals that the green panels were made in pairs, interrupted by a field of red background accented with horizontal bands of faux serpentine and giallo antico.