CHAPTER VI

THE WORKSHOP

In an earlier study of the Fish Mosaic of Palestrina and a series of fish mosaics from Pompeii I concluded on the basis of important similarities in iconography, style and technique, that all were probably made by one workshop. A number of other mosaics could also be ascribed to the same workshop, including the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina, the mosaics from the Casa del Fauno at Pompeii, and several other mosaics from Pompeii and around the Bay of Naples. The workshop has been named the Workshop of the Casa del Fauno because this house possessed the largest collec­ tion of the workshop's products so far discovered, and because it was these mosaics which allowed a reconstruction of the work­ shop's activity1• A short review of the workshop's activity may help to shed some light on the background of the Palestrina mosaics. The Casa del Fauno is the best preserved example of a mansion belonging to a provincial aristocrat from the later part of the second century B.C. This was a period of enormous prosperity both in Central Italy and in Pompeii, owing to the development of trade with the Eastern Mediterranean which followed the Roman conquest. The finding of a fragment of a travertine slab with an Oscan inscription mentioning a Satrius, named as an aedile, sug­ gests that the Casa del Fauno may have belonged to the Satrii, who were a prominent Campanian family. It seems probable that the aedile Satrius was involved in the general architectural embel­ lishment of Pompeii which took place in the later part of the second century, as well as in the enlargement and embellish­ ment of the Casa del Fauno. In all events a person like himself would be of appropriate status to own a house like the Casa del Fauno. The lay-out of the house with its two peristyles, its wall decorations in the First Style, and its rich floor mosaics, gives a good impression of the villas which the Romans began to build in Campania in the course of the second century B.C.2. Here we shall briefly review those mosaics which can be connected and may consequently be ascribed to the same workshop. 92 CHAPTER VI

The earliest examples of the workshop's products are the Palestrina mosaics, which probably date from c. 120-110 B.C.3. Between 110 and 80 several mosaics were made for Pompeian clients and especially for the owners of the Casa del Fauno. During these decades the workshop enjoyed its most flourishing period4 . Among the Casa del Fauno mosaics there are two which show a close relationship to the Palestrina mosaics. The first one is the Nilotic frieze from the Alexander exedra (see fig. 28). This shows a marsh-scene which has several characteristic details of flora and fauna of the Nile in common with the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina5 . The other one is an emblema with fish around a cen­ tral group consisting of an octopus fighting with a spiny lobster and a moray, which shows strong similarities in detail to the Fish Mosaic of Palestrina. This composition apparently became popu­ lar, because several copies or variations of it have survived from Pompeii, Populonia and elsewhere, dating from 100-506. Another interesting mosaic from the Casa del Fauno is the one depicting an Mrican wild cat catching a hen. The motif of wild cats catch­ ing fowl was popular in Egyptian marsh-scenes. In this case it has been combined with a pair of ducks and lotuses, and a still life with fish and shells. The ducks derive from the Nilotic frieze and the fish and shells from the fish mosaic in the same house. This composition also became popular and several copies or variations exist7. A mosaic from the Casa del Fauno which has not been pre­ served showed a lion placed frontally facing the beholder. This unusual motif recurs in other mosaics from Pompeii, Tivoli and Teramo, where the lion grasps a snake or a leopard with its fore­ paws. A frontal representation of a lion also appears in a mosaic at Palermo depicting a hunting scene where it grasps a fallen hunter in the same way 8 . The hunt mosaic at Palermo, which is badly damaged, shows a hunting scene in which the protagonists are Persians and Greeks and which originally probably included Alexander the Great9 . There are some striking similarities with the Alexander mosaic from the Casa del Fauno, and it looks as though the two mosaics reflect companion pictures depicting Alexander in battle and Alexander huntingiO. Another mosaic from the Casa del Fauno shows a young winged Bachus riding a tiger, a motif which is supposed to be of Alexandrian origin11 . Finally a small emblema from the Casa del Fauno shows a