Roman Painting, Mosaic, and Imperial Art

Roman domestic wall painting is conventionally classified into four styles, a system devised by the German archaeologist August Mau based chiefly on evidence from Pompeii and Herculaneum. The First Style, or Incrustation Style, current from the second century BCE, imitated blocks of colored marble in molded stucco. The Second Style, dominant through much of the first century BCE, opened walls onto illusionistic architectural vistas and mythological scenes, most famously in the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii. The Third Style, associated with the Augustan period, favored delicate, ornamental panels on flat monochrome grounds, while the Fourth Style, current after the earthquake of 62 CE, combined elements of the earlier styles into crowded, fantastical architectural framing, as seen throughout the House of the Vettii.