The catalogue raisonné of the paintings of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples includes a repertoire that is unique: from the simple “marbling” techniques where the judicious use of paint lent the dignity of that noble stone to a more humble counterpart, to the large scale works from Boscoreale, in which princes and philosophers are etched against a “Pompeian red” background, an undoubted echo of Hellenistic art, from illusionistic architectures to beguile elites to the most refined arabesques. An excellent photographic campaign finally documents the ancient colours and never-before-seen details revealed by recent restorations, which have made it possible to confirm or revise current interpretations in accurate charts and micro-essays useful for reconstructing the contexts of origin within broader figurative programmes, to delve into peculiar genres such as garden painting, and into all aspects of painting techniques and site organisation. But the book is also a journey through images of the Greco-Roman world: from the gods and heroes of myth to the rituals of the sacred, from scenes of everyday life to eroticism, from portraits to the incunabula of still life and landscape that allow us to imagine seaside villas as the exotic settings of distant paradises, the brawl between the citizens of Pompeii and those of Nuocera in the amphitheatre of Pompeii and Vesuvius still covered by Bacchus’ vines.
