WALL FRESCO, 40-30 BCE, FROM THE HOURS OF THE CRYPTOPORTICUS. POMPEII, ANTIQUARIUM Here we see a stretch of wall from the interesting late-Republican domus called the House of the Cryptoporticus (I 6, 2). The underground hall that gives the house its name is similarly frescoed with panels and herms, but here in the œcus or living room the decoration is even more lavish. The lower two thirds of the wall are a continuous yellow surface broken by a red herm of a satyr with a double flute, a painting of a statue, which is painted a secco on top of the frescoed architecture. His lower hand seems to be hitching up a garland wrapped around his waist and reaching toward other herms beyond the edges of the fresco. A small decorated band stretches along the top of the yellow wall, with an illusionistic shelf above. Two pinaces, painted scenes with shutters. At right is a still life with rooster and fruit, and at left a scene of Alkestis bidding farewell as Charon's ferry awaits.

#FrescoFriday takes us to the House of the #Cryptoporticus in #Pompeii, or rather to this #fresco from the House's #œcus, now in the Antiquarium. From 40-30 BCE, this is a sophisticated decoration with garlands and a #herm, and two pictures with illusionistic shutters above. #AncientBluesky 🏺

LEDA AND THE SWAN, 62-79 CE. HOUSE OF THE VETTII, POMPEII This is a detail from the upper register of the south wall of the southern œcus off the main atrium in the House of the Vettii. This room is decorated with scenes of love and struggle: directly below this detail is a scene of Eros and Pan fighting. Here, atop a fictive wall forming the main decorative register, is an ædicule flanked by green columns. In the centre, against a white background, is Leda sitting upright, undoing her dress and lifting its edge over her right shoulder to disrobe. Clinging to her left side is Jupiter in the form of a swan, with an improbably curved neck, wings fluttering. Her legs are still covered with her red dress, but it's been pushed down almost to her knees. Forbidden coitus imminent!

#FrescoFriday takes us into the southern #œcus of the #HouseoftheVettii in #Pompeii, where a seated #Leda is eagerly getting ready for some #avian #sex with #Jupiter, which will have strange effects on her reproductive system, producing two #eggs each containing #twins. Ouch. #AncientBluesky 🏺

ŒCUS DECORATION, C. 30 BCE, DETAIL. HOUSE "OF AUGUSTUS", PALATINE HILL A close look at the lower register of the œcus fresco decoration, which seems to have remained on the wall, shows the complexity of the frames surrounding the panels of cinnabar. Closest to the panels is a black frame with a central groove - is it real or an illusion? The vertical band has a sort of candelabrum decoration on either side, white on dark green, and up and down the very centre is a series of floral and vegetal designs alternating with tiny delicate winged female figures. The horizontal band has cross-like flowers alternating with wheat sheaves. Within the red cinnabar panels there are traces of white frames around their edges. This is extremely sophisticated work.

Here in a detail we can see some of the amazing #fresco decoration of the #œcus, with its #cinnabar panels and complex #frames. /2 #AncientBluesky 🏺

ŒCUS FRESCO, C. 30 BCE. HOUSE "OF AUGUSTUS", PALATINE HILL This sumptuous frescoed wall is an extraordinary example of the sophistication of late Republican painting. Painstakingly reconstructed from hundreds of fragments in the C20, this was one of the most important reception rooms in the house, with a small decorative portico around three sides of the room and the fourth side open to the peristyle garden off the left-hand side of this photo. It is almost incredibly lavish, with its lower half covered in panels of cinnabar separated by dark green bands covered in tiny floral and human images. Above a green and pink cornice, illusionistic architecture opens onto scenes of people gathering outside as if watching events in the room.

For #FrescoFriday we're delving into the #Palatine hill and the late-#Republican #domus called the #HouseofAugustus. Its main family gathering space, the #œcus, has some of the most magnificent #fresco work in #Rome. /1 #AncientBluesky 🏺

STILL LIFE WITH SEAFOOD, 42-79 CE. MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI NAPOLI This is the central panel of three still lifes from the House of the Deer in Herculaneum. This one has a beautifully-observed collection of crustaceans grouped around a silver ewer with a relief on it. At left is a splendid king prawn, huge like a lobster but lacking its claws, and on a shelf above it two calamari hang their tentacles limply down. A couple of clams on the ground level look rather enticing. At right, there are more clams and two murex conches, all splendidly painted. The ewer at centre seems to have figures and arms in relief on it, with a long thin trident leaning behind it from left to right. Surveying it all from the top of the ewer's handle is a bird, possibly a kingfisher, which is likely wondering where to start its feast.

#FrescoFriday leads us into the #NationalArchaeologicalMuseum of #Naples, which conserves this spectacular #stilllife #fresco from an #œcus or living room, perhaps meant to whet the viewers' appetites. Get the food before the natural predators do! #ClassicsBluesky 🏺