Pompeian Styles

The Pompeian Styles are four categories of ancient Roman wall painting, distinguished by their architectural effects, ornament, and uses of illusionism.

Connect

Roman wall painting: Interior mural painting in ancient Rome, often executed in fresco and organized across architectural wall surfaces. The four styles classify major developments within this broader tradition.
House of the Faun: A large Samnite-period residence in Pompeii, famous for its mosaics and richly decorated rooms. Its early painted rooms show the masonry effects associated with the First Style.
First Style: A Roman wall-painting style that imitates colored masonry with modeled plaster and painted joints. It makes the wall resemble expensive stone rather than an opening into space.
August Mau: A German archaeologist who developed the influential four-style classification of Roman wall painting in the late nineteenth century. His system gave the four styles their enduring sequence and scholarly framework.
Fresco: A painting technique that applies pigment to fresh, wet plaster so color becomes integrated with the drying surface. Many surviving Pompeian paintings were made on plaster using this technique.
Villa of the Mysteries: A Roman villa outside Pompeii, renowned for a large room of vividly painted figures performing a mysterious ritual. Its Second Style room combines expansive illusionistic architecture with a prominent figure cycle.
Second Style: A Roman wall-painting style that uses perspective to depict architecture extending beyond the wall. Its expansive architectural illusions differ sharply from the masonry-like First Style.
Pompeii: An ancient Roman city near Naples, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Its preserved buildings and paintings supplied much of the evidence for the classification.
Stucco: A workable plaster coating used for architectural modeling, relief decoration, and painted surfaces. Raised stucco ornament helped create the textured effects of early Roman wall decoration.
House of the Vettii: A wealthy Pompeian house whose rooms preserve elaborate Fourth Style paintings and mythological scenes. Its interiors offer a concentrated example of ornate late wall decoration.