| Paintings and mosaics in Pompeii and Ercolano: |
Dionysian scene
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I n
1845 during excavation work at the House of the Decorated Capitals,
two slabs of slate were found with inlays depicting a Dionysian
scene. They had probably fallen from an upper story, where they had
been part of Fourth Style wall decorations.
In one of them we can see a Satyr and a Maenad who, while performing
an orgiastic dance, are approaching an aedicula supporting two vases.
In the second one we see a Maenad coming forward, bearing an
offertory tray and a band in her hands, towards the middle of the
scene where we find a statue of Priapus and that of an unidentified
female figure, while a Satyr dances in from the right, holding his
cloak behind his back, and preceded by a panther which is turning
round to look at him. A tree and a bethel make up the environmental
features which bestows upon this picture a formal completeness
lacking in the first example. The marble used on this occasion is
Numidian (varying shades of yellow), Pisan (green), "Peach Blossom"
and "Palombino".
Bibliography: O. Elia, Di due pannelli figurativi pompeiani con
figure in "opus sectile" ad intarsio, in BdA 1929, pp. 265-276; S.
Aurigemma in EAA, VII pp.147-148 s.v. Sectile opus
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Fonte: MANN
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