Herculaneum
Herculaneum. Roman city near Naples, buried after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Its rediscovery in C18 and excavation (from 1738) proved to be a potent catalyst in Neo-Classicism, especially as the finds were documented in Le Antichità di Ercolano (The Antiquities of Herculaneum—1757–92) and sumptuously illustrated. The artefacts were particularly influential because they revealed much about domestic furnishings and the lives of ordinary Romans. As with Pompeii (which was actually found later than Herculaneum), the excavations gave countless motifs to designers that were ingredients of Neo-Classical schemes, notably the Etruscan, Pompeian, Adam, Empire, and Regency styles. Die schönsten Ornamente und merkwürdigsten Gemälde aus Pompeji, Herkulanum und Stabiae (The Most Beautiful and Remarkable Paintings from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia—1828–59) by Wilhelm Zahn (1800–71) provided a rich and accurate source for C19 designers, with its many chromolithographed plates.
Bibliography
Hornblower & and Spawforth (1996);
Lewis & and Darley (1986)
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Herculaneum
