amples of it. At this time, also, a passion for portrait painting prevailed; an art which flattered their vanity was more suited

PAINTING, POMPEII.

must have been exceedingly numerous; Varro made a collection of the portraits of 700 eminent men. Portraits, decorative and scene painting seem to have engrossed the art. The example, or rather the pretensions, of Nero must also have contributed to encourage painting in Rome; but Roman artists were, however, but few in number; the victories of the consuls, and the rapine of the prætors, were sufficient to adorn Rome with all the masterpieces of Greece and Italy. They introduced the fashion of having a taste for the beautiful works of Greek art. At a later period, such was the corrupt state of taste, that painting was almost left to be practised by slaves, and the painter was estimated by the quantity of work that he could do in a day.

The remains of paintings found at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and in the baths of Titus at Rome, are the only paintings which can give us any idea of the colouring and painting of the ancients, which, though they exhibit many beauties, particularly in composition, are evidently the works of inferior artists in a period of decline. At Pompeii there is scarcely a house the walls of which are not decorated with fresco paintings. The smallest apartments were lined with stucco, painted in the most brilliant and endless variety of colours, in compartments simply tinted with a light ground, surrounded by an ornamental margin, and sometimes embellished with a single figure or subject in the centre, or at equal distances. These paintings are very frequently historical or mythological, but embrace every variety of subject, some of the most exquisite beauty. Landscape painting was never a favourite with the ancients, and if ever introduced in a painting, was subordinate. The end and aim of painting among the ancients was to represent and illustrate the myths of the gods, the deeds of heroes, and important historical events, hence giving all prominence to the delineation of the human form. Landscape, on the other hand, illustrated nothing, represented no important event deserving of record, and was thus totally without significance in a Grecian temple or pinacotheca. In an age of decline, as at Pompeii, it was employed for mere decorative purposes. Many architectural subjects are continually found, in which it is easy to trace the true principles of perspective; but they are rather indicated than minutely expressed or accurately displayed; whereas in most instances a total want of the knowledge of this art is but

too evident. Greek artists seem to have been employed; indeed, native painters were few, while the former everywhere abounded, and their superiority in design must have always ensured them the preference.

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The subjects of Roman mural paintings are usually Greek myths; in the composition and style we see Greek conception, modified by Roman influence. The style of drawing is rather dexterous than masterly; rapidity of execution seems to be more prized than faithful conscientious representation of the truth of nature; the drawing is generally careless, and effects are sometimes produced by tricks and expedients, which belong rather to scene-painting than to the higher branches of art. It must not, however, be forgotten that the majority of these pictures were architectural decorations, not meant to be regarded as independent compositions, but as parts of larger compositions, in which they were inserted as in a frame. As examples of ancient colouring they are of the highest interest, and much may be learnt from them in reference to the technical materials and processes employed by ancient artists.

In order to afford some idea of the pictorial art of the ancients, we shall introduce the most beautiful specimen of ancient painting which has been preserved to us, and will

avail ourselves of Sir W. Gell's description of it. The size of the painting is 4 feet by 4 feet 2 inches. "The scene seems to take place in the tent of Achilles, who sits in the centre. Patroclus, with his back towards the spectator, and a skin of deeper red, leads in from the left the lovely Briseis, arrayed in a long and floating veil of apple-green. Her face is beautiful, and not to dwell upon the archness of her eye, it is evident that the voluptuous pouting of her ruby lip was imagined by the painter

as one of her most bewitching attributes. Achilles presents the fair one to the heralds on his right, and his attitude, his manly beauty, and the magnificent expression of his countenance are inimitable. The tent seems to be divided by a drapery about breast high, and of a sort of dark bluish-green, like the tent itself. Behind this stand several warriors, the golden shield of one of whom, whether intentionally or not on the part of the painter, forms a sort of glory round the head of the principal hero. It is probably the copy of one of the most

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celebrated pictures of antiquity. When first discovered the colours were fresh, and the flesh particularly had the transparency of Titian. The painter has chosen the moment when the heralds Talthybius and Eurybates are put in possession of Briseis, to escort her to the tent of Agamemnon, as described in the first book of the 'Iliad.' The head of Achilles is so full of fire and animation that an attempt has been made to introduce a fac-simile of it. Though a fac-simile, as far as being traced with transparent paper from the original can make it so, it gives

but a very imperfect idea of the divinity which seems to animate the hero of the painting. The extreme vivacity, dignity, and beauty of the head are but faintly expressed, and all those faults seem exaggerated which the skill of the artist and the colouring of the original concealed. One of the eyes in particular is larger than the other, and there may be other defects, which totally disappear when observed with the entire painting, leaving the impression of the finest youthful head in existence."