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Fresco panel
Roman
Imperial Period
A.D. 14–62
Findspot: Italy, Campania, near Pompeii, Villa of the Contrada Bottaro
Medium/Technique
Fresco
Dimensions
Height x width: 190 x 143 cm (74 13/16 x 56 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Ellen Frances Mason Fund
Accession Number33.499
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionPainted in the Third or Fourth Style, the fresco has a yellow ground with a deep red lower central portion within an architectural frame. There are vertical and horizontal bands in green; the window opening is off-white. A stalk-like candelabrum, punctuated by leaves and surmounted by a fanciful ornamental wreath, rises vertically in front of the center wall. A framework structure surmounted by finials appears above in the window opening.
The fresco is one of a series that decorated the interior wall of a colonnaded courtyard in the Villa of the Contrada Bottaro near Pompeii.
For sculpture from this villa, see 1980.201-206 and 1981.754.
The fresco is one of a series that decorated the interior wall of a colonnaded courtyard in the Villa of the Contrada Bottaro near Pompeii.
For sculpture from this villa, see 1980.201-206 and 1981.754.
Provenance1901/1902, excavated by Gennaro Matrone (d. 1927) in the peristyle of the Contrada Bottaro Villa, about a half-mile south of Pompeii; ownership granted by the Italian State to Gennaro Matrone. Between October 1925 and March 1926, sold by Prof. U. Marcellini (dealer), Naples, to Brummer Gallery, New York (stock no. P2577); May 25, 1927, sold by Brummer to William Randolph Hearst (b. 1863 – d. 1951), New York; December 30, 1929, returned by Hearst to Brummer Gallery; 1933, sold by Brummer Gallery to the MFA for $15,115 [see note]. (Accession Date: June 1, 1933)
NOTE: Eleven frescoes (MFA accession nos. 33.496 – 33.506) were purchased by the MFA for this amount. They were part of a lot of 53 frescoes that had been acquired by Brummer Gallery, sold en bloc to Hearst, and were returned before being sold to the MFA.
NOTE: Eleven frescoes (MFA accession nos. 33.496 – 33.506) were purchased by the MFA for this amount. They were part of a lot of 53 frescoes that had been acquired by Brummer Gallery, sold en bloc to Hearst, and were returned before being sold to the MFA.