Still-life paintings

As has only recently been shown (Allroggen Bedel 1975) on the basis of documentary evidence from the archives, and on stylistic comparison with a picture still in situ, this group of seven paintings comes from the House of the Deer in Herculaneum, which was explored for the first time in 1748, even though the three picture with fruit and glass recipients were originally attributed, both in Pitture di Ercolano and in the Museum's inventories, as coming from Pompeii. They belong to a complete cycle of paintings of this type, together with another three still-lifes which also feature living animals. In this case, the wealthy owner of the house, Q. Granius Vero, commissioned the paintings from a real master. As has already been observed, the paintings are masterpieces as far as technique of composition and execution are concerned. They are balanced and harmonious in the way the subjects have been arranged in space, in which it is not possible to distinguish any particular feature, other than the shelves upon which the objects are themselves placed, as if on display to show off the skilful precision. The way the bodies of the game animals has been carried out is particularly striking: the plucked chicken and the disembowelled hare seem to be on display in the butcher's shop window, while the partridge and the quails are shown with the fruit and mushrooms with which they were customarily prepared - just as a delicatessen today would display gamebirds. In the last picture, two partridges have been shown together with two shiny moray eels. In the second group, the artist has shown off his skill in the rendering of the glass recipients, while the reproduction of the branch of peaches with a detail showing a piece cut away so as to reveal the succulent interior, with the addition in only one of the pictures of a half-full jug of water, looks like a cheeky reminder of the realism of the piece, of two different moments of the same event, to which should be added a third, in Herculaneum, where there are only two peaches and where the jug has been moved to a more central position The central picture reminds us, moreover, of how the preparation of the subject was by no means a matter of chance and how the choice of subject could conceal special hidden meanings, such as reference to a life of luxus and otium: coins, one gold and another silver, are stuck into exotic dates, upon a sophisticated table on which the crystal-clear glass skyphus cup shines with that other piece of skill, the wine therein. Bibliographies: PdE III tav. LIV; H 1683; Croisille 1965, p. 40 n.44; A. Allroggen Bedel, Der Hausherr der "Casa dei cervi" in Herculaneum, in Cronache Ercolanesi, 1975 pp. 99-103; S. De Caro, Due "generi" nella pittura pompeiana: la natura morta e la pittura di giardino, in AA.VV. La Pittura di Pompei. Testimonianze dell'arte romana nella zona sepolta dal Vesuvio nel 79 d.C., 1991, p. 261-262 PdE II tav. LVI, H 1694; Croisille 1965, pp. 40-41, n. 46; A. Allroggen Bedel, Der Hausherr der "Casa dei cervi" in Herculaneum, in Cronache Ercolanesi, 1975 pp. 99-103; S. De Caro, Due "generi" nella pittura pompeiana: la natura morta e la pittura di giardino, in AA.VV. La Pittura di Pompei. Testimonianze dell'arte romana nella zona sepolta dal Vesuvio nel 79 d.C., 1991, p. 261

Fonte: MANN
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