iculate the walls vertically. The lively color contrast are no more than atranslation into the pictorial idiom of the Hellenistic innovation of employing various typesand colors of marble, in the realization of the single elements. ( Giuntoli 6). They give anillusion of actual marble panels. Roman paintings were true frescoes, the colors wereapplied while the plaster was still damp, but the brilliance of the surfaces was achieved bypainstaking preparation of the wall. The plaster was combined with marble dust if thepatron could afford it. Obviously incrustation was a process of decoration often beyondthe reach of any but the most powerful and wealthiest.A good example of the First Style is The North wall of the tablinum, House of Sallust.(pic. 1). , of unknown artist, this painted wall in Pompeii is about 12 x 8. Despite somelater alterations and additions, the nucleus of this house, the rooms around the atrium(Thecourt of a roman house that is near the entrance and open to the sky), stayed as it wasuntil the end of the Tufa period. The decoration of the tablinum has a band along the baseof the wall (a dado), which is mounted by painted and stuccoed imitations of large stoneblocks (orthostates). These blocks are outlined and give a good idea of the colorfulnesstypical of this style(red, yellow, orange and green). In this style there is no figuration orornamental motifs. The wall is divided into three horizontal zones and the top area was apainted cornice. There is no hidden symbolism or religious meaning in this particularpainting. It is probably been done at the late phase of the style, the individual field wereonce again enclosed in a real three-dimensional framework of stucco rather than relyingonly on illusionistic painting. ( Kraus 165) The Second Style, also called architectural, became popular in the years whenSullas military colony was established, around 80 B.C. The decoration on the wallsproposed perspective views with archit...
