In my last two postings, I created a sense of depth in the mural's window panel by painting a cityscape in the background and then hanging an olive branch in the foreground. I could have heightened the illusion of foreground by having the olive branch partially obscure the cityscape, but I didn't want to go that route.
So this week, I'm going to accentuate the mural foreground by painting an authentic Pompeian tripod in the area below the cityscape.
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| photo-illustration, Mark D. Ruffner |
The Romans made sacrifices to their many gods at stone altars, and they also conducted rituals and made offerings using bronze tripods. The Greeks before them had done the same, and gave tripods to important citizens as gifts for their civic service.
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| Shapero Rare Books | villageantiques.ch |
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) created many fine etchings of ancient Rome, including these two fantastic tripods, above.
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| click to enlarge | sources below |
Pompeii, Coarelli, Riverside | The Treasury of Ornament, Dolmetsch, Portland House
Tripods in Pompeii were no less finely designed, and above is one of the more famous ones. It comes from the estate of a wealthy Pompeian woman named Julia Felix, daughter of Spurius. On the left is a photograph and on the right is a Victorian era representation of the same tripod. As you can see, the Victorians were wont to exclude certain details.
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| Period Paper | amazon.com |
An equally well-known Pompeian tripod is pictured above, and this is the one that I'll incorporate into my own Pompeian Room.
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| click to enlarge |
I could have rendered the tripod in a green to give the impression of a bronze with patina, but as with the cityscape, I wanted this new element to pick up some of the existing colors of the mural.
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| click to enlarge |
I have no evidence that the Pompeians would have used a white cloth for a ritual, but I have included it for three reasons:
- I want to fill more of the alaea* panel without otherwise crowding it,
- I do want to give the impression that a rite is happening before the temple, and
- I want whatever I place in the basket to stand out against a lighter background.
*Sherwin Williams calls the color of that lower panel
alaea. "Alae"
(in an ancient Roman house) referred to an alcove opening into a larger room or courtyard. I was unaware of that when I chose the color, but love the serendipity of the choice!
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| click to enlarge |
Next week I'll be filling the tripod's basket.
I hope you'll join me then!
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The Victorian rendition, if one has seen the original, is rather bland -haha. Thats so funny what they left out. Glad yours won't include the gratuitous nudity!
ReplyDeleteHi, Stefan,
DeleteDon't we suppose that the bronze tripod gave Julia Felix some personal pleasure, and how cruel of the Victorians to take it away from others?
Hello Mark, As usual, I love every detail of this latest addition. About painting the tripod green, outdoor bronzes likely became patinated, but indoor furniture was more probably kept polished. And tripods of the magnificence of those you show and paint I would imagine were often gilded, so your depiction is perfect.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello, Jim,
DeleteI am imagining that my tripod is placed indoors, perhaps in an atrium, and that it is indeed guilded. My reference books suggest that there were some exquisite bronzes that were kept outdoors, and perhaps they were also polished. Incidentally, I was recently asked by a friend to "antique" two plaster busts to look like patinated bronze, and it was great fun to achieve the effect. The process included dribbling paint and hosing paint with water.
Hello Mark,
ReplyDeleteAnd, so, the mural continues to be beautified and layers of intrigue added. The tripod in the foreground does give an additional depth to the overall scene and it now has all the feel of a triumphal event about to happen. Surely this will be what dinner parties in your Pompeii Room will be like. We cannot help but wonder what delicacies will have to be served in order to match the magnificence of the surroundings. Perhaps what is to go into the basket will give an indication......
How puritanical of the Victorians to miss those essential details. It would certainly give the dinner guests something to smile about!
Hello, Jane and Lance,
DeleteI haven't given too much thought to what might be served in the Pompeii Room, in part because I don't normally do much cooking, and in part because I'm still considering what sort of a table will be in the room. Perhaps the room will be a good place for desserts and after-dinner drinks.
I am intrigued by how open the Pompeians were with their sexuality, and the thought has occured to me that a culture in which the average age at death would be quite young would also be a culture that viewed all aspects of life more openly.
Hello Mark - there are many classical and renaissance statues in the V & A, London, hidden from view as they sport fig leaves. I understand that gradually the fig leaves are being removed and the statues restored to their original condition.
ReplyDeleteThey have a copy of Michelangelo’s David given to Queen Victoria, which is now in the process of having its fig leaf removed. The story goes, that when Queen Victoria visited the museum and saw David in all his naked splendour, she was shocked, and the museum quickly had a marble fig leaf sculpted to cover his modesty.
I love the tripod and the white cloth is a perfect idea to highlight whatever you paint next. I do like the translucent quality that you have given it.
Hello, Rosemary,
DeleteReading your comment, I have a wonderful vision of Queen Victoria being shocked, shocked, shocked!
I'm glad you like the white cloth. I looked to a number of artists for inspiration, including Salvador Dali, who has rendered beautiful white cloth in a number of his so-called later master paintings.
Your masterpiece is looking more beautiful and convincing with each layer. I love the story it tells, and the tweaks you've made. The white cloth is brilliant, Mark. To me, it adds softness and purity. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteHi, Loi,
DeleteThanks for seeing purity in that arrangement — I would love to have the mural be seen that way. And I think that where ritual before a temple is concerned, purity of intention would be central.
Dear Mark, You continue to surprise us. The tripod is an unexpected design element and one that fits perfectly into your design scheme. I wonder what is still to come. Each time I think that "this must be it". But no, the ideas in your head keep spilling out to our delight and admiration.
ReplyDeleteDear Gina,
DeleteYour comment has made my day, and it's still morning! Thank you. In answer to your wondering, I've so far been concentrating on the larger wall of the room, but I'll soon be heading in other directions.
Oh, oh, oh. You just amaze me, Mark. I echo every word of what has been said above. The Victorian censorship had me smiling. On our visit to Pompeii we were quite amused to see that the Romans had formed images of what has been edited from the tripod made of cobblestones which pointed the way to the brothel district. Quite appropriate, I thought.
ReplyDeleteDear Barbara,
DeleteI envy your visit to Pompeii since I have never been there, but I do think that it is destined to happen for me. Then I'll be looking for the interesting signposts you describe. I know that many of the Pompeian murals are degrading from over-exposure to tourists, so I better not wait too long!
Mark, the cobblestone shapes are actually imbedded in the road. As explained to us, not everybody who visited spoke or read Latin, and so "sign language" was used quite frequently.
DeleteI love tripods! I think you were brilliant to include one and the cloth is a very interesting background-just enough detail and a perfect color for further design over it. I hope you know we are all enjoying this process as much as you are!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that last sentence, Theresa! I'd really like to think of the project as an offering, and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that you and others might be enjoying it. And I remember that you sent me some color reference before I even got started!
DeleteI'm laughing at Rosemary's comment, Mark. Made my day. Fig leaves!! Poor Queen Victoria. Though I must say that David's...uh, pulchritude seems much more benign to me than those of the Pompeian satyrs pictured in your example.
ReplyDeleteAh, those fun loving Pompeians, living it up in the shadow of a volcano.
I do like this tripod idea and love the one you've chosen to interpret. The basket top, especially, has real depth. The entire thing fits in nicely with your overall scheme.
Dear Yvette,
DeleteAh, poor Queen Victoria. Such a prude, and yet she apparently appreciated coarseness in John Brown.
The Pompeians, on the other hand, appear to have had a robust perspective of sex and life. I like the imagery you create by mentioning living it up in the shadow of a volcano — dancing on a tightrope they were.