book xxxv
., chapter 10--
EXTRACT FROM PLINY’S NATURAL HISTORY.
“Ludius was he who first devised to beautify the walls of a house with the pleasantest painting that is in all variety; to wit, with the resemblance of manors, farms, and houses of pleasure in the country; havens, vinets, flower-work in knots; groves, woods, forests, hills, fish-pools, conduits and drains, rivers, riverets, with their banks, and people, some walking and going to and fro on foot, others sailing and rowing up and down the stream upon the water, or else riding by land to their farms, either mounted upon then mules and asses, or else in waggons and coaches; there a man should see folk, in this place fishing and angling, in that place hawking and fowling; some hunting here, the hare, the fox, or deer, both red and sallow; others busy there, in harvest or vintage. In this manner of painting, a man should behold of his workmanship, fair houses, standing among marshes, into which all the ways that lead be ticklish and full of bogs; where you should see the paths so slippery, that women as they go are afraid to let one foot afore another; some at every step ready to slide, others bending forward with their heads, as though they carried some burdens upon their neck and shoulders, and all for fear lest, their feet sliding under them, they should catch a fall; and a thousand more devices and pretty conceits as these, full of pleasure and delight. The same Ludius devised walls without doors, and abroad in the open air, to paint cities standing by the sea-shore: all which kind of painting pleaseth the eye exceedingly well, and is besides of little or no cost. Howbeit, neither he nor any artificers of this kind--howsoever otherwise respected--grew ever to be famous and of great name; that felicity attained they only unto who used to paint in tables, and therefore in this regard, venerable antiquity we have in greater admiration; for painters in old time loved not to garnish walls for to pleasure the master only of the house, nor yet to bedeck in houses that manner that cannot stir out of the place nor shift and save themselves when fire cometh, as painted tables may that are to be removed with ease.”
The reconstruction of an ancient house from the descriptions of ancient authors has been several times attempted.
Pirro Ligorio, a Neapolitan architect, erected the villa Pia, 1570, for Pope Pius V. It was built in imitation of the houses of the ancients, whose architecture he had particularly studied. Mazois, whose large work on Pompeii has formed, as it were, the basis of almost all Pompeian studies, wrote an elaborate essay on the palaces of the ancient Romans, under the title “Le Palais de Scaurus.” In this all the descriptions of ancient authors were supposed to be comprised. His work, however, was confined to the pen; and it is to be regretted that Mazois did not undertake an architectural reproduction, as an actual copy of one of the houses he explored whilst they were comparatively perfect, and for which he was so thoroughly qualified. Only _one_ undertaking of this kind has preceded the Pompeian Court at Sydenham. It was prompted by the taste of a monarch, remarkable for his interest in the fine arts of all nations and all ages. The ex-king of Bavaria had a villa built at Aschaffenburg, which was the complete restoration of an ancient Roman house found at Pompeii. It was erected by the celebrated architect, Gärtner, and is an exact copy of the House of the Dioscuri.
The visitor to Pompeii is but too frequently disappointed at the crumbling condition of the disentombed city; and the majority take little trouble to trace the origin of this first and unfavourable impression. They do not reflect upon the relation between different portions of the ruins, the use or particular object originally served, the custom that produced it, or the former appearance of the details in the harmony of their original arrangement, with the groups of gaily attired inhabitants giving animation to the scene. Like the greater portion of the curious who throng the Elgin Saloon of the British Museum, for the purpose of taking a peep at the mutilated fragments of the marbles contained within its walls, such visitors to Pompeii look for excellencies that do not exist, and a harmony incompatible with the actual condition of the remains; and, discontented at finding things in opposition to their own conceptions, they depart with imperfect and even prejudiced ideas of what they really have beheld. Few arrive at Pompeii with even a general idea of the appearance of an ancient Roman house, and are thus incapable of judging of the actual importance of the crumbling remains of the buried cities.
Repeated visits, and careful and laborious investigation, are necessary for perfect comprehension of the value of the ruins, in guiding the observer towards an accurate idea of the state of the city in its prime. To the careless and the uninitiated these few scattered fragments, snatched from the very jaws of desolation, will afford but a faint reflection of the glory and the triumphs that have for ever passed away.
Such were the persevering studies of Cockerell, Digby Wyatt, Donaldson, Falkener, Gell, Hayes, Mazois, and Zahn; and to their investigations we are indebted for all the conclusions displayed in this interesting building. We behold at a glance the result of the experience of many years, and the combined exertions of our most distinguished architects, and may safely assert that no more agreeable method than that afforded by this reconstruction could be devised for making the public acquainted with the details of a Pompeian house.
NOTE.
In the Atrium are placed two handsome marble benches, such as the clients might have sat upon whilst waiting for audience with their patron. The ends, which are elaborately carved, have been copied from an original model in the Vatican Museum, and the whole has been presented to the Crystal Palace Company by the London Marble Working Company, through their secretary, Mr. Clare.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF PANSA. Discovered at Pompeii, 1811. (See page 42.)]
Transcriber’s Notes.
Inconsistencies (including in spelling and hyphenation, also of proper and geographical names) have not been standardised, except as listed below.
The source documents contains some unusual geography (Maestricht in Germany, the Pacific Ocean near Somalia and South Africa). These have not been changed.
Page II-68, article 168: the reference to the bust of Buonaparte is blank in the source document; possibly the reference was intended to be to item 311.
Page II-106, article 255: his name was Bernard Germain Étienne de Laville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède.
Page III-85, ... ranges westwards to the boundaries of Abyssinia: probably an error for ... ranges eastwards to ....
Changes made
Footnotes have been moved to under the relevant paragraph, illustrations have been moved out of text paragraphs.
Minor obvious misprints and typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently.
Some ditto symbols („) have been replaced with the dittoed text.
page I-vii: second A.M. for Sunday trains from Charing Cross changed to P.M.
page I-xvi. Philoe Portico: page number inserted.
page I-85: footnote marker [23] inserted.
page I-98: and in many days changed to and in many ways.
page I-109: Ludwig Scwanthaler changed to Ludwig Schwanthaler.
page I-110: Das Neue Testaments changed to Das Neue Testament.
page II-84: Andrè le Nôtre changed to André le Nôtre.
page II-85: Andrè Félibien changed to André Félibien.
page II-105: Aunonai changed to Annonai (2x).
page II-106: sur Mon changed to sur Illon.
page II-143, article 327A: Cristoph changed to Christoph; article 327C: C. Christoph changed to Christoph.
page II-150, article 341: Gutenburg changed to Gutenberg.
page II-223: le Sœur changed to le Sueur.
page II-228: 10* changed to 410*.
page II-229: Marin-Jean-Antoine changed to Marie-Jean-Antoine.
page II-230: 94 changed to 94*
page II-232: Gutenburg changed to Gutenberg; 95 changed to 95*
page II-232: Gutenburg changed to Gutenberg.
page II-234: 76 changed to 76*.
page III-55: _S_un’s beam and _f_aughter father changed to _S_un’s _b_eam and _f_aughter _f_ather cf. other examples and explanation.
page V-48, section heading CUBICULA changed to sub-section heading.
page V-52: d’Ercalano changed to d’Ercolano.