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When the volcano Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as a host of luxury villas overlooking the Bay of Naples. That ancient tragedy was a gift to the modern world: the pumice and ash that filled homes and displaced tens of thousands of people, also served to preserve the elaborate mural paintings that embellished residential structures.

The rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the mid-18th century and its subsequent (and still ongoing) excavation have made it clear that ancient Romans lived in houses that were much more elaborately decorated than our own. While the walls – and sometimes the ceiling vaults – of upper-class Roman abodes featured extraordinary embellishment undertaken by the era’s most exclusive artists, even lesser houses seem to have had at one or two painted rooms at the very least.

Where and how to see these frescoes? A trip to Pompeii won’t serve you that well as many of the most elaborate frescoes were removed from the contexts in which they were discovered during early excavations. The permanent home for most of the detached frescoes is the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, but much to the frustration of many tourists, that collection of frescoes has been closed for many years due to ongoing museum rennovation.

But don’t despair! From now until 20 March, approximately 100 frescoes from the Naples Archaeological Museum have made their way to Rome and are on exhibit at the National Archaeological Museum at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (photographs in this post show details of these remarkable paintings).

Technically, the frescoes convince any viewer that the Romans were utterly and completely concerned with the creation of images that depicted a world much like our own. The human bodies shown are anatomically correct and they move and occupy space in a manner similar to our own. As well, any number of illusionistic frescoes make it clear that the Romans understood how to show three-dimensional perspective on a two-dimensional surface, for they go to great lengths to create images that make it appear as if the wall surface has disappeared and one is looking out into a garden, a landscape, or a world of fantastic architecture.

The subjects of the paintings likewise remind us that the Roman art addressed a variety of subjects, from every day life to myth to history. In one fresco, listeners surround a female musician (see image below), while in another a still life shows the dried fruits, mushrooms, and moray eels that could be found in the pantry of a wealthy Roman kitchen. In the realm of myth, the Trojan warrior Aeneas shares a tender embrace with Queen Dido (above, right) in one image, while the baby Hercules wrestles with snakes sent by the goddess Juno to kill him in another. And, a series of stunning dining rooms from a villa that perhaps belonged to the emperor Nero remind us that such decoration is not just an exercise in aesthetics, but that images often carry social and political meaning, for in these rooms Nero seems to pronounce his concern with the development of the area around the Sarno River on the Bay of Naples.

A few more recent discoveries also are included in the exhibition. These include an entire room from a Pompeii home decorated with garden motifs as well as frescoes of deities on a red background from an ancient hotel found in 2000 during construction of a highway near the site.

Photos by Susan Sanders

Exhibition open from 09.00-19.45, Tuesday-Sunday. Closed Mondays. National Archaeological Museum at Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. Largo di Villa Peretti 1.