V.4.7 Pompeii. Caupona of Spatalus.
Linked to V.4.6 and V.4.8. Excavated 1842, 1886 and 1902.
Part 2 Part 1
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Remains of painted wall plaster on north wall pilaster.
V.4.7 Pompeii. May 2010. Remains of painted plaster on pilaster at rear of bar room behind counter.
According to Stefani, there was a small painting of Bacchus and Silenus on the wall in the room.
See: Stefani, G, curatore, 2005. Cibi e Sapori a Pompei e dintorni. Pompei: edizione Flavius. (p.101-2)
V.4.7 Pompeii. Pre-1937-39. Remains of painting of Bacchus and Silenus.
Photo courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive. Warsher collection no. 677.
Kuivalainen describes –
A composition of two figures facing opposite directions on a light background. On the left, a youth stands with his weight on his right foot; he wears a reddish cloak, which hangs down from the left side and covers only the left thigh, revealing his genitals, and high boots; in his right hand he holds an object and leans with his left arm on a shorter Silenus. He wears a cloak that covers the lower part of his body; his skin is darker, and he plays the cithara, holding it with his left hand. Above them grows a vine.
Kuivalainen comments –
A young almost naked Bacchus with Silenus playing the cithara is a common motif. The object in the youth’s hand may have been a cantharus, and there may have been a panther as well.
See Kuivalainen, I., 2021. The Portrayal of Pompeian Bacchus. Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 140. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, (F8, p.164).
V.4.7 Pompeii. View of caupona with wall decoration and Bacchus and Silenus painting.
DAIR
D-DAI-Z-NL-RZW-2494. Photo ©
Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom, Arkiv.
See http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/topographie/8005570
V.4.7 Pompeii. Postcard dated 8th March 1927 showing Bacchus and Silenus painting in situ. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
V.4.7 Pompeii. 1913 watercolour painting by Luigi Bazzani, of the bar from the Via di Nola.
On the left of the rear doorway, the artist has painted a lararium scene, and not the painting of Bacchus and Silenus.
Now in Naples Archaeological Museum, inventory number 139424.
V.4.7 Pompeii. c.1900. Drawing by Pierre Gusman with the painting of Bacchus and Silenus painting in situ, on left.
See Gusman P., 1900. Pompeii: The City, Its Life & Art. London: Heinemann, p. 224.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking north in corridor towards rear rooms.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Niche in east wall of corridor.
V.4.7 Pompeii. May 2003. Niche in east wall of corridor. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Oven on the east wall to the north of entrance doorway at V.4.8.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Oven near gate of V.4.8, looking east.
V.4.7 Pompeii. June 2005. Oven near gate of V.4.8 in east wall. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
V.4.7 Pompeii. June 2005. Interior roof of oven. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Terracotta topped bench at side of oven.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Recess next to terracotta bench at side of oven.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Opposite from oven, on west wall.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking west across vinarium in north-west corner, north of doorway at V.4.6, with eight dolia.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. May 2003. Dolia. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. May 2003. On the rim of this dolia is a stamp
G NAEVI
VITALIS.
Also scratched on the rim is (D or G?)IONVSIVS F E C.
Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007. Vinarium with eight dolia in north-west corner.
Looking west across vinarium, with doorway in south wall, on left, leading towards V.4.6.
According to Boyce, a small marble altar was found in this room.
It was decorated on the front face with a taenia (band), a patera (shallow dish) and an urceus (one handled jug).
The upper surface was divided into two sections by a ridge down the centre.
See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (121; p. 40, note 2).
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007.
Looking south across three rooms to V.4.6 entrance, from vinarium/room in north-west corner.
In this first room, on the left, on the south pilaster of a doorway (leading east into a room) with its remaining lower plaster, would have been seen a painted figure of Mercury, (now disappeared), holding the bag in his right hand.
On the north pilaster of the same doorway (in the east
wall), the figure of Venus Pompeiana
accompanied by a cupid would have been seen, painted on a red background, she
was entrusted with the protection of the wine that aged in the underground
dolia in the rear vinarium, on the north side of this doorway.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. Painting of Mercury. The background was red.
Mercury was nude, carrying his green cloak with winged helmet and shoes.
In his right hand he held his purse and his staff in his left hand.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1899,
p. 343, fig. 4.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii but shown as V.3.6 on photo. Pre-1937-1939. Painting of Venus Pompeiana with cupid.
Photo courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive. Warsher collection no. 260.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. Painting of Venus Pompeiana with cupid. The
background was red.
The goddess (0,66 high) with her hair gathered in a gold bonnet and diadem,
adorned with pearl earrings, gold necklace, bracelets and rings on her fingers
and wrapped in a light robe, has her right arm on her breast, and with the left
she holds the rudder, leaning with her elbow on the shoulder of the cupid (0,39
high) who is next to her, decorated with a crown and wearing a green chlamys
(fig. 5).
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1899,
p. 344, fig. 5.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking east through doorway into room, with niche/recess in its south wall.
The two paintings
mentioned above, on the doorjambs/pilasters of this room, would have been
joined by another painting on the east wall of the room, showing Dionysus,
depicted in the company of a maenad, in the well-known scheme in which the
panther drinks.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. Painting of Maenad with Bacchus. The background was red.
On the right was Bacchus, but his head was missing from the painting.
He poured the liquid from a jug into the mouth of his panther.
On the left we see a standing Maenad, crowned with ivy and dressed in green robe.
In her right hand she held a tambourine and a wand in her left.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1899,
p. 345, fig 6.
Kuivalainen describes the painting, now destroyed –
“Two persons are standing against a red background. On the left, a female figure in a green robe holds a tympanum in her right hand and a thyrsus in her left; she has a wreath of ivy on her head. In the middle sits a panther drinking from a cantharus held by the youth on the right. The youth stands with his weight on his right foot and leans with his left on a pillar; he carries a yelow cloak on his arm and holds a thyrsus.”
Kuivalainen comments –
“A Bacchus of the young and almost naked type, depicted with a maenad and a panther. Simple two-figure compositions with Dionysus and one of his companions were favoured already e.g. by the Python Painter in Paestan vases, ca. 360-320 BC.”
See Kuivalainen, I., 2021. The Portrayal of Pompeian Bacchus. Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 140. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, (p.131-32, D10).
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007.
Looking towards south-west corner below niche/recess, of first room on north side of V.4.6, an opening for the cistern and a basin?
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007. Niche on west wall.
According to Boyce, this large and shallow arched niche was described by Paribeni (Not. Scavi, 1902, 377) as il larario.
However, Boyce disagreed and thought it most unlike one.
See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (121; p.40)
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. May 2003. Niche on west wall. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking from second rear room of shop to entrance on Via di Nola.
According to Sogliano –
found in this rear room where one entered from the doorway at V.4.8, (on the left, but doorway not included in the photo) were two skeletons, with other finds.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1899,
(p.103).
V.4.6/7 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking south across second rear room, towards shop-room with entrance on Via di Nola.
V.4.7 Pompeii. December 2007. Looking west to shop-room at V.4.6 shop, from V.4.7.