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Is Jove a Rock Or Leaner? Interpreting the Central Paintings of Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet Rachel Newberry University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

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Is Jove a Rock Or Leaner? Interpreting the Central Paintings of Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet Rachel Newberry University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 10 Article 15 Fall 2009 Is Jove a Rock or Leaner? Interpreting the Central Paintings of Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet Rachel Newberry University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/inquiry Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons Recommended Citation Newberry, Rachel (2009) "Is Jove a Rock or Leaner? Interpreting the Central Paintings of Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet," Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 10 , Article 15. Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/inquiry/vol10/iss1/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Inquiry: The nivU ersity of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 76 INQlJIRY VolumeNewberry: I 0 2009 Is Jove a Rock or Leaner? Interpreting the Central Paintings of P Is Jove a Rock or a Leaner? Interpreting the Central Paintings of Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet By Rachel Newberry Classical Studies Program Faculty Mentor: David C. Fredrick Classical Studies Program Abstract decoration is useful - and arguably essential -to decoding its When confronting a piece ofancient Roman artwork, meaning. the modern viewer faces the question, "How do we see like I propose, then, a fresh interpretation of the paintings in the Romans did?" Geographical, temporal, and cultural the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii. My interest in the differences combine to make the process ofunderstanding subject finds its genesis partially in my reaction to Bettina ancient art particularly complex. This piece attempts to bridge Bergmann's "The Roman House as Memory Theater," in which the gap between ancient Rome and the present through an Bergmann discusses the experience of the paintings by their analysis ofthe central mythological paintings located in regio original viewers as linked to the Roman practice of oratory. My VI, insula 8 ofPompeii. A three-dimensional model ofthe interest also derives from the creation of a three-dimensional insula, created in the honors research colloquium "Digital model ofregio VI, insula 8 in "Digital Pompeii," an honors Pompeii" at the University ofArkansas, is essential to the colloquium class at the University of Arkansas. examination ofthe complex interaction between the paintings The goal of this class was to reproduce Pompeii's artwork and their architectural context. By utilizing gender and and artifacts in virtual reality, using drafting and video game gaze theory, examining Roman oratorical and memorization software. By generating a 3-D searchable database through practices, and the rituals ofdaily life, this piece traces the which I could navigate and view the artwork in its original social messages encoded in these paintings through the spatial context (on the walls), I found myself better able to visualize sequence ofthe insula, paying particular attention to issues the interrelation between paintings and the ways in which their ofgender instability, phallic powe1: and political hierarchy in stories overlapped to create a complex narrative, one which Roman society. commented on the sociopolitical situation and power structure Introduction of ancient Rome. By assuming the role of spectator, a role For the contemporary viewer, understanding the frescoes difficult to adopt simply by looking at a 2-D photograph of the that covered the walls of the dom1is of the ancient city of decoration, I better understood how the Roman viewer would Pompeii presents a challenge. One might hail them as glorious have interacted with the artwork. By utilizing gender and gaze and perhaps remark upon the talent (or, occasionally, the theory, along with the readings of Bergmann, and informed crudeness) of the artists who executed their designs throughout by my experience of"walking" within the 3-D model of the Roman domestic space. However, this does little to advance insula, this article presents a fresh analysis of the artwork. one's understanding of the various meanings encoded in the Space and Ritual in the Roman House art and still less to illuminate the reception of the paintings In order to understand the decorative themes utilized by their original Roman viewers. As part of her critique of in Roman domestic space, the viewer must recognize that traditional approaches to art history, Griselda Pollock argues, "[t]he architecture of the Romans was, from first to last, an "What we are taught is how to appreciate the greatness of the art of shaping space around ritual." These rituals not only artist and the quality of art objects. This ideology is contested denoted formal ceremonies or household culta, but also daily by the argument that we should be studying the totality of interactions that shaped Roman life. Moreover, "the home social relations which form the conditions of the production was a locus of public life. A public figure went home not so and consumption of objects designated in the process as art." much to shield himself from the public gaze as to present While Pollock aims to apply contemporary feminist himself to it in the best light." The rituals of daily life occurred discourse to 19th and 20th-century art history, this assertion predominantly in the home, and each space's size, position in certainly applies to the study of the domestic artwork of the the domus, and richness of decoration acted as a signpost to the ancient Pompeians, since "the quality and decoration of a Romans who entered it, indicating both a room's function and Roman's house was closely linked with his social standing." its mvner's status. Thus, the architect was faced with the task Because domestic decoration was so closely tied to social of creating a space that served as a place to carty out rituals hierarchy, applying gender theory, especially its analysis of and also communicated its utility to visitors and inhabitants power relations and phallocentrism, to one's study of Roman alike. Published by ScholarWorks@UARK, 2009 1 Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal,CLASSICAL Vol. 10 [2009], STUDIES: Art. 15 Rachel Newberry 77 A helpful example in understanding daily ritual is that of it helped to steer them within a house, guiding them round the safutatio, the visits that the clientela, or dependents, made ~he internal hierarchies of social space ... and second, to their patron, the paterfamilias of the home. The salutatio It offered social orientation by contrasting one house with wa~ essential to the political fabric of Roman life. Clientela another, indicating the level of resources and social wmted upon their patron in the hopes of securing his favor aspirations of the household. and thus b~nefi~ting, and the size and socioeconomic standing ?fa patron s chentela contributed to his political clout. Its Central mythological panels lie at the top of the decorative hierarchy and are among the most important clues to the Importance is made manifest in the layout of the domus since relative status of the spaces in the domus. Their analysis, Roman builders and artists shaped the fauces (entrywa; from therefore, is essential to understanding the function of Roman the street), atrium (the central hall onto which the fauces wall painting; that is, how and what it meant in its original opene~), an.d tablinum (the main reception space at the end of context. the atnum, m which the paterfamilias sat and received guests) around the salutatio. As the clientela entered the domus a Contemporary Gender Theory and Roman Art History "s.equ~nce of architecturally framed planes conducted the The following analysis will assess the significance of the chent, s gaze to the paterfamilias in the tablinum," guiding the mythological panels from a domus in region VI, insula 8: the guest s movement from entryway to his goal. House of the Tragic Poet. I will take into account John Berger's The 3-D model is particularly useful here, for it allows one work on gender relations and his description of the active to retrace the path of the visiting client, moving through from male and passive female in artwork. I will also utilize Laura the fauces, through the atrium and its numerous paintings to Mulvey's work on film theory, in particular her analysis of the th e t.a bl"mum. The positiOn. of the patriarch, stationary in the' viewer's scopophilic and sadistic gazes and what these indicate tabhnum, gazing out through the atrium and toward the fauces, about gender relations. Carol Clover's evaluation of assaultive ca~ also be visualized (Fig. 2). The fauces-atrium-tablinum and reactive gazes in horror films is also pertinent. Susan axis, then, served as a spatial guide that informed the visitor's Bordo's analysis of portrayals of the male body and what these move~ent through the domus, and the decorative schema it views indicate about the gendered political and social hierarchy co~t~med was instrumental in conveying the social rank and that produced this artwork will also be useful in my analysis. pohtical importance of the paterfamilias. Bettina Bergmann discusses "memory theater" and . This hierarchy of decoration existed throughout the highlights the importance of understanding Roman decoration entire house, coding each room's importance. Wallace-Hadrill based on interrelations of paintings, as connected to the suggest~ t~at one may rank Roman domestic spaces by placing educated Roman's mode of mentally moving thro~gh a house. them Withm the axes of public versus private and grand versus Her work provides insight into the ways in which these humble. The first of these categories delineates the difference paintings were originally interpreted.
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