| Paintings and mosaics in Pompeii and Ercolano: |
Shop sign and electoral writings
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 This
fragment of painted plasterwork comes from the southern facade
of insula VI 13, and probably from the section between street
nos. 6 and 7. It is a good example of how external walls were
continually being covered by paintings and inscriptions being
continually superimposed on each other, without any actually
being deleted , or at most being covered by a thin coat of
whitewash. In the centre we see a female character standing,
though she has been described by Helbig (H 28) as sitting; she
is wearing a red dress, garish jewellery and a garland of leaves
on her head, and is pictured holding a sceptre in her left hand
while in her right she is bearing what is barely distinguishable
as a small branch poking out above her shoulder in front of the
face of the male character who is beside her at an obtuse angle.
This is a well-drawn profile; he is wearing a castellate crown
on his head embellished with a garland, and is wearing a green
tunic, red cloak and long boots. His left hand is holding a
stick with what appears to be leaves protruding from one end
onto his shoulder. This description permits us to identify the
man as Bacchus and more specifically in his guise of Liber
pater; consequently the woman can only be Libera. And in effect
she appears to have the same features as the Venus of Pompeii,
without, however, being accompanied by the cupid or adorned with
crown and oar, although she is garlanded like the goddess.
This figure partially covers the margin of a previous painting
showing two vimineae caveae, a sort of domed-shaped cage used by
fullers for the drying of fabric; on each one there perches a
small owl, a bird which was sacred to Athena who was the patron
saint of the handicraft trade. A little further away is the
seated figure of a pipes player, painted in watery brown brush
strokes while the other two figurines of the statue of Eros have
been carried out using a brighter red. The scenes on the right
depicting the building site were carried out at the same time as
that of the two deities; Around a rectangular building with
podium and weathered roof, probably a temple, frantic work is
being carried out by four workmen to complete the wooden
sections with the help of pulleys and hoists, lifting the beams,
nailing them down and hewing logs. The scene continues on the
left beneath that of the fullers, where we can see a figurine
lifting his arms near two beams.
In the upper part there are the remains of two electoral
inscriptions etched in red; above the fullers is written:
Lollium /.....I. Fuscum OF
while above the building-site scene is written:
Trculd (?) u...r (?) um / Polybium IIvir.
The fresco was discovered between the house with street number
6, which in the last period of its existence had been
transformed into a weaver's shop, and the shop at number 7 where
graffiti showed pictures of hooks, hoes and scythes and which
probably also sold general ironmongery. We might hypothesise,
therefore, that this fresco was the sign for the two shops which
were united under the protection of two divinities who were
closely linked to both the life and the agricultural and
wine-producing activities of the town; the electoral
inscriptions, on the other hand, going back to 73 A.D. for that
of C. Iulius Polybius and to 78 A.D. for that of C. Lollius
Fuscus, were superimposed on the depicted scenes and therefore
represent for us a sort of terminus ante quem.
Bibliography: T. Frölich, Lararien- und Fassadenbilder in der
Vesuvstädten, 32 Erg.heft, 1991, F41; PPM, Disegnatori p. 902,
fig.29
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Fonte: MANN
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