Frescoes of Pompeii, Italian, Antique Watercolors, 19th Century

Frescoes of Pompeii
Rome or Naples: Late 19th Century
Gouache on paper
Horizontal: 8 x 10.25 inches, image; 9.5 x 13 inches, overall
Vertical: 9.75 x 5.25 inches, image; 9.75 x 12.75 inches, overall
$950, the pair

Two meticulously detailed and colorful renderings of frescoes in Pompeii. There is a pencil inscription in the lower left corner of each painting in Italian: “Afresco di Pompei.”

Beginning in 1758, there was great popular interest in the ancient Roman art discovered with the excavation of the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which had been preserved as if frozen in time when they were buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. In the age before photographic color images, drawings, prints and paintings of frescoes served as souvenirs for the great libraries of Grand Tour travelers and patrons and provided inspiration to neoclassical architects and decorative art designers.

Condition: Generally very good with the usual light toning, wear, soiling, soft creases. Some hard creases, short tears, chips, greater handling, generally confined to margins, mostly can be matted out.