VIII.5.28 Pompeii. Casa della Calce or Casa di Popidius Celsinus.

Excavated 1815, 1819, 1826, 1838, 1874, 1882 and 1943.

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VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Masonry atrium wall between rooms 2 and 3 on east side of atrium.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. December 2007. South wall of upper storey in room 2 on east side of atrium. Taken from VIII.5.32.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. December 2007. North wall of upper storey in room 3 on east side of atrium. Taken from VIII.5.32.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 3, cubiculum.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, cubiculum. Looking east from doorway.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, cubiculum. Upper north wall, remains of painted plaster.

At the top of the wall the remains of a smooth stucco band (I Style) was preserved, which could have dated back to a Samnite house.

On the white painted upper wall, light architecture and garlands could be seen (IV Style).

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, north wall of cubiculum.  

The walls would have had a middle zone painted red, and the upper zone was white, but now only the colour remains of the IV Style decoration.

The “V” shaped portion of plaster in the upper left, may be part of a yellow panel, as it appears a different colour to the faded red.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, south-east corner of cubiculum. The zoccolo was painted with a simple geometric pattern.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. c.1830. Room 3, drawing by Gell of a wall of a cubiculum.

Gell describes this “second” cubiculum, in the same house (House of Fuscus) as being highly charged with colour distributed in panels, and completely different from the other cubiculum seen in our Room 7, with light tracery on a white background.

He said, this painted wall had been deliberately arranged for the admission of a bed, which occupied the space of two panels on the right, so as to leave the yellow portal and its two side panels a perfectly regular design not interfering with the couch.

The chamber is, like the other, singularly small, not exceeding eight feet in length, and calculated only for the purposes of a cubiculum or bedroom.

See Gell, W, 1832. Pompeiana: Vol 2. London: Jennings and Chaplin, p.56-57, and Plate IV.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. Pre-1849. Painting by Zahn of upper wall decoration in Room 3, at top.

The two black zoccolo below are described as being from “in the neighbourhood of the Forum”.

See Zahn W., 1849. Ornamente aller klassischen Kunst-Epochen nach den Originalen in ihren eigenthümlichen Farben. Berlin: Reimer, Taf. 66.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. c.1830. Room 3, drawing by Lesueur of detail of upper wall of a cubiculum.

On the sketch is a note "Colorie sur fond blanc".

See Lesueur, Jean-Baptiste Ciceron. Voyage en Italie de Jean-Baptiste Ciceron Lesueur (1794-1883), pl. 92.

See Book on INHA reference INHA NUM PC 15469 (04)  « Licence Ouverte / Open Licence » Etalab

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, door threshold/sill in cubiculum.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 4, tablinum, together with entrance to stairs to upper floor.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 4, tablinum.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 4, north-west corner of tablinum.

VIII.5.28 or VIII.3.8?

The following five photos are a mystery, and so have been included here in VIII.5.28 as Gell mentioned a “red chamber”,

and also in VIII.3.8, as in PAH there is mention of the atrium mosaic of that house being excavated in March 1819.

According to the Gell drawing of the atrium (in our Pt.1), on the left of the atrium was the “the red chamber” and on the right was “the white boudoir”.

“The red chamber” may have meant a cubiculum, or even the tablinum.

Pompeii. Between 1819 and 1832, sketch by W. Gell described by him as -

“Side of the red chamber Street of (or South of) Forum.

This was excavated about February. The red was changed to brown before September 1819.”

See Gell, W. Pompeii unpublished [Dessins de l'édition de 1832 donnant le résultat des fouilles post 1819 (?)] vol II, pl. 45.

Bibliothèque de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, collections Jacques Doucet, Identifiant numérique Num MS180 (2).

See book in INHA Use Etalab Licence Ouverte

According to PAH (1819) –

See Fiorelli G., 1862. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 2: 1819 - 1860, Naples, (p.1)

13th January 1819.

There are already two rooms following to the one, which was recovered in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Salerno, and really the one that proved to be a pharmacy, as well as two small side rooms to the same. 

(Note: the mention of the “pharmacy” may mean VIII.3.10).

Gell wrote of VIII.3.10 – “once supposed by the custodi to have been that of an apothecary, see Pompeiana, 1832, p.7).

See Fiorelli G., 1862. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 2: 1819 - 1860, Naples, (p.2)

Continuation of entry for 26th January 1819 with list of finds.

See Fiorelli G., 1862. Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia, Vol. 2: 1819 - 1860, Naples, (p.3)

13th February 1819 –

In the past week, the site where the latest research has taken place has continued, and already four other small rooms have been prepared, and we continue to excavate to set up other rooms.  In one of the said rooms were found two broken terracotta vases filled with lime.

6th March 1819 –

In cleaning the courtyard of the house next to the one that was looked at in the presence of Archduke Palatine, and really where two other rooms were sought, a mosaic floor had shown itself, divided up by a black and white edge, and with a border around it that figured walls of a city with the corresponding towers.

According to Gell in Pompeiana –

“The Plate No. V. is taken from the wall of an apartment in this quarter, and is given principally on account of the practicability of its application to modern decoration. It might make a beautiful library, with a mirror in the centre, vases arranged on the top, and maps to be drawn down from the frieze: books might occupy the space under the red curtains, and archives etc., the base.”

See Gell, W, 1832. Pompeiana: Vol 1. London: Jennings and Chaplin, (p. 7, and Pl. V).

Pompeii. 19th century drawing of part of a wall, by Jean-Baptiste Ciceron Lesueur.

See Lesueur, Jean-Baptiste Ciceron. Voyage en Italie de Jean-Baptiste Ciceron Lesueur (1794-1883), pl. 90.

See Book on INHA reference INHA NUM PC 15469 (04)  « Licence Ouverte / Open Licence » Etalab

Pompeii. 1882. Decoration on wall in a cubiculum drawn by A. Sikkard.

According to Mau –

“After Mazois:  wall decoration no longer visible from a house in the neighbourhood of the Temple of Fortuna”.

See Mau, A. 1882. Geschichte der Decorativen Wandmalerei in Pompeji. Berlin: Reimer, Taf. 10b.

According to Gell, this was from a house in the Street of (or South of) the Forum.

Pompeii. c.1838. Painting of a wall of a room.

According to Mazois –

La Planche XXVI offre une peinture murale trouvée dans une maison de ce quartier. Sir William Gell, Qui la copie sans la colorier et en y faisant quelques changements, licence que nous nous sommes gardé d'imiter, s'exprime ainsi ; "On donne ici ce dessin à cause de son application facile a la décoration moderne. |On pourrait établir sur ce plan une belle bibliothèque etc.".

Plate XXVI offers a wall painting found in a house in this neighbourhood [near Temple of Fortuna]. Sir William Gell, who copies it without colouring it and making some changes to it, a license which we have been careful not to imitate, expresses himself thus:

"This drawing is given here because of its easy application to modern decoration.

A fine library, etc., could be established on this plan.”

See Mazois, F., 1838. Les Ruines de Pompei : Quatrième Partie. Paris : Didot Frères, Pl. XXVI.

Pompeia. 1821 painting of wall by Prosper Barbot.

From an album P. BARBOT. Voyage d'architecture en Italie. 1820-1822. Naples du 3 mai au 19 juin 1821, Folio 63.

© Réunion des musées nationaux - utilisation soumise à autorisation

See https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/joconde/50350225993

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 5, stairs to upper floor.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking west across room 1, atrium, towards rooms 6, 7, 8 and 9.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 6, ala. Looking west.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. Room 6, ala, perhaps from the west wall.

Painting by Francesco Morelli, of a wall with central painting of Venus and Adonis (Helbig 336).

There is some doubt of the actual location of this wall, as it may have been from VIII.5.24, room 1, the east wall of the atrium.

Fiorelli (Descrizione, p.447) described it as from the west ala of VIII.5.28, -

“which contained some paintings, amongst which was one with the figures of Adonis sitting on the lap of Venus, with a dog at their feet, and two cupids at their sides”.

William Gell drew a similar sketch of the painting, which he stated was from Apothecaries House, VIII.3.12.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number ADS 886.

Photo © ICCD. https://www.catalogo.beniculturali.it

Utilizzabili alle condizioni della licenza Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Condividi allo stesso modo 2.5 Italia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 IT)

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