Pompeian

Pompeian. The Roman town of Pompeii was buried by deposits of volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in ad 79, thus partially preserving it for posterity. Rediscovered in 1748, it began to be excavated from 1755, and the architecture, artefacts, interior decorations, motifs, and details uncovered there and at Herculaneum and Stabia had a profound effect on Neo-Classical design after they began to appear in publications (e.g. Le antichità di Ercolano esposte) (1757–92), a vast study prepared by the Accademia Ercolanese, established under the aegis of Charles VII, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1734–59, later King Charles III of Spain (1759–88) ). Pompeian schemes of frescoed wall-decorations were to provide the main themes, including the bold blacks, greens, reds, and yellows, with finely drawn borders and grotesques that became an important part of the Etruscan or Pompeian style in C18. Gell and Gandy's Pompeiana (1817–19 with later editions) was an important source, as were Die schönsten Ornamente und merkwürdigsten Gemälde aus Pompeji, Herkulaneum und Stabiae (The Finest Ornaments and Remarkable Paintings from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia—1828–59) by Wilhelm Zahn (1800–71), and Les Ruines de Pompeii (1809–38) by Charles-François Mazois (1783–1826). Among architects who used the Pompeian style were Joseph Bonomi at Great Packington, Wicks. (1785–8), and Schinkel at Schloss Glienecke, near Berlin (1824–9), and Gärtner at the Pompeian House, Aschaffenburg (1842–6), but these are only three examples of very many. See Neo-Grec.

Bibliography

Gell & and Gandy (1852);
Honour (1977);
Lewis & and Darley (1986);
H. Osborne (1970);
Panitz (ed.)(1977);
Jane Turner (1996);
P. Werner (1970)