The fourth style is also called the ‘fantastic style’. This type of decoration, characteristic of the second half of the first century A.D., is also the most prevalent in Pompei because many houses were redecorated in this style after the damage of the earthquake of 62 A.D. In this period, the ornamentation of the walls...Read More

The ‘third style’ is also called the ‘ornamental style.’ Rich but delicate decorations characterized the taste of the reign of Augustus, between the end of the first century B.C. and the early decades of the first century A.D. The architectural representation is even less realistic. The division of the wall into skirting board, middle section...Read More

The ”Second Style” The ‘second style’ is also called the ‘architectural style’. Here we find simulated perspectives of columns and architectural views, which are present also in the other styles except the first. Characteristic of the decoration of the first century B.C. is this simulated perspective, with images of persons or pictures, often combined with...Read More

The ”First Style” The ‘first style’ is also called the ‘structural style’. It is the artistic idiom of the Hellenistic world and is found in Pompei above all from the third to the first century B.C. The preparatory layer of stucco was designed and painted to imitate rectangular panels of various types of colored marble,...Read More

The decorations in Pompeii The technique of fresco decoration consisted of painting on a layer mixed of lime and marble dust, which was spread right before starting to paint and thus still wet. Seven preparatory layers could be spread one after the other on the dry wall. This served to smooth away roughness and to...Read More