Getty Museum
A Roman Feast
Creator
Roberto BompianiItalian Artist · 1821–1908
All works by this person →Roberto Bompiani's highly finished paintings of scenes from Roman antiquity earned him the nickname "the Italian Bouguereau." Although he ultimately devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, he first trained as a sculptor, enrolling at the Roman *Accademia di San Luca* at age fifteen. As a painter, Bompiani depicted historical, mythological, and religious subjects in a conservative, idealize
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- late 19th century
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Except for the portly man at the table's center, the figures are quintessential "Marble School" creatures, physically perfect, with soft, smooth skin as polished as the marble that surrounds them. Roberto Bompiani delighted in depicting varied textures and patterns, from the leopard-skin rug to the marble floor and table and a shimmering satin dress. Bompiani did extensive research to create the effect of authenticity, though he often mixed styles and periods in a single canvas. He based the frescoes and inlaid marble floor on Roman models, while the stone and bronze tables, lamps, and vessels depend variously on Greek, Roman, and Etruscan sources. Bompiani's imaginary genre scenes of Roman life, told with a combination of photographic realism, idealization, and archaeological accuracy, became popular in the late 1800s.
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