Arts and Music: Roman Wall Painting

By Michelle Styles

When most people think of Rome and art, they think about white marble statues, generally copies of Greek or busts of Roman senator. White on white. A bleached landscape.It is a shame because Rome was a city of vibrant colour. The place to see this colour is not in the statues but in the remaining mosaics and frescoes.

Until the Venetians invented painting on canvas, everything was either painted on wood or directly on plaster. The painting directly on to fresh plaster is known as a fresco. The Romans were masters at creating illusions with paint--trompe d’oeil.

The Romans did not live in a world of pastels but one where colour played an important part. Most of the frescoes that we can see today come from either Pompeii or Herculaneum. Some like the Maritime Villas from the House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto depict actual scenes. In this case, the seafront of Baia. (I found it very helpful when I was writing THE ROMAN'S VIRGIN MISTRESS as I had picture of the actual frontage from the right time period to use.) Others depict scenes from plays, or events or even idealised gardens.

Because of the very real problem of looting, most of the important frescoes have been removed from the sites and are now displayed in Naples. The ones left in Pompeii tend to be fragmentary. The other problem is that of conservation. The colours have become bleached with the passage of time.

However, the most evocative frescoes come not from Pompeii but from Rome, from the underground dining room of Livia's villa. The frescoes depict an idealised view of Livia's above ground garden in full bloom. From the paintings, scholars have been able to determine many of the plants that were being grown in Rome at the time. These include the bay laurel (Livia's favourite plant), the strawberry tree, oleander, date figs and cypress trees.

The frescoes were uncovered in the late 19th century and moved to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome. You can only see them through timed ticket but it is worth taking the time. The tour also takes you through some of the better mosaics and a few other painted rooms but it is Livia's dining room which is the real highlight.

The frescoes were kept underground and never exposed to the light, and are completely intact, it is possible to get a sense of what the Romans, in particular Augustus and Livia must have actually experienced. Photographs do not do it justice (or indeed any fresco) and tend to bleach out the vibrant greens and blues. In fact, unless you have special permission are not allowed to take photographs of the walls.

Standing in that room, surrounded by paintings which go from the ceiling to the floor, you suddenly realise how much colour the Romans used and how vibrant their walls were. There is also a depth to the frescoes which is lacking in modern reconstructions. I know when I stood in that room, my whole conception of what Roman life must been like changed.

Michelle Styles's Roman set A NOBLE CAPTIVE is out now at eharlequin and will be available as an ebook everywhere from April.

Arts and Music: Chinese Calligraphy

By Jeannie Lin

How do you express yourself when there are very specific rules? That's the crux of Chinese calligraphy--a limited set of brushstrokes, with an infinite number of ways they can be expressed. The art of calligraphy, called shu, is one of the four principal disciplines in Chinese culture along with painting, music, and strategy games.

The order of the strokes is important when drawing Chinese characters, so a student must not only learn what a character looks like, but also the proper way to write it.

There are seven basic brush strokes though up to 32 total strokes have been categorized. Calligraphy experts also study and classify different styles of calligraphy. Here are examples of two different styles of calligraphy from the same artist.

Calligraphy is considered to be the art form that is most revealing of character. Swordsmen, scholars, and statesmen were all expected to study calligraphy and, through it, learn both discipline and expression. Master calligraphers receive the same recognition an artist such as Da Vinci receives in Western culture.

Rubbing of a work of master calligrapher Ouyang Xun (557-641) from the Tang Dynasty
It's said that the appearance of the writing can be appreciated the way you can appreciate abstract art. Without understanding what the characters mean, the audience should still be able to sense the energy and spirit behind the technique. Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse declared that their work was influenced by the art of calligraphy. Perhaps by the concept of capturing the essence of an idea in a few lines and shapes?

Can you see any connection?
When the shape and style of the words themselves are such a beautiful art form, it's no wonder that Chinese poetry and literature contains such rich symbolism!

Glass: Everything it's cracked up to be!

Sand + Soda + Lime + A hot, hot fire = Glass

There are lots of stories of how glass got its toe-hold in human culture. Cave men used volcanic glass for many things, including knives, as well as adornment.

The first indication that humans were actually making glass is a clay tablet, dated around 3300 BCE, with instructions on how to build a glassmaking furnace. By the 13th Century, Egyptian glass was more famous than its Mesopotamian predecessor. Here's a picture of King Tutankhamun's death mask. Glass is inlaid to look like lapis lazuli (although lapis is also used), and this was not an uncommon use. The Egyptians emulated gem stones, made perfumeries, and fashioned decorative bottles all out of glass.

In the 1st Century BCE, the art of glass blowing came into practice. Now glass was malleable--it's versatility now evident. The Romans, of course, jumped all over this.

From Glass Act™

...one clever Mesopotamian managed to form a glass tube and blow a bubble at the end, creating the first blowpipe and hence the art of glassblowing. The first metal blowpipe came into widespread use in the 1st or second century before Christ and glass production soared, particularly in the Roman world, where glass became available to the rich and the poor.

Windows of the Soul

Other than King Tut's eyes, the first glass windows were discovered in Pompeii. So let's head to Rome. This is from British Glass:

Around 100AD, the Romans discovered that adding manganese dioxide to their glass mixture created clear cast glass, hence the could use it for window glass . . . The glass composition used by the Romans is almost identical to that used in the modern world.

The Anglo-Saxons definitely like their glass. One always feels better with a bit of finery, and multi-colored glass beads were just the ticket. They also made cups, bowls, windows, jewelry, and tiles for board pieces. Apparently, they made buckets, too. Here's a 4th or 5th Century AD bucket, found in a tomb.

Frankly, I don't know what they'd use a glass bucket for, but someone obviously thought it was a good idea.

More Window Talk

The first known Anglo-Saxon stained glass (7th C.) was found in Yarrow. The Romans had used it in their villas several hundred years earlier. The Normans first started using windows in their buildings in 1180. As you can see, the technology ebbed and was re-discovered several times.

In 1266, a Franciscan monk named Roger Bacon wrote the uses of plano-convex glass to magnify. Glass became even more useful--lenses were added to the glass hit parade, although I have to wonder if anyone used them for eyeglasses at that time.

Better, bigger windows were a sign of Tudor times (Hampton Court), as well as hourglasses used aboard ship, and timepieces--the height of elegance. Elizabeth I wore a pendant timepiece.

The next century (we're in the 1600s now) brought telescopes and microscopes. In 1674, George Ravenscroft substituted lead oxide for the clear lime in the glass mixture and voila! Lead crystal.Today, we're capable of making flawless lenses--incredibly powerful microscopes and the Hubble telescope. We drink out of glass cups every day and think nothing of it. Glass is everywhere--our monitors, our cars, our oven doors. But while we've gotten better at making it it, glass is still basically the same as it was 2000 years ago.

And we still are in awe of the beauty of glass. Here's Dale Chihuly with some of his work at the Tacoma Art Museum (Washington). He does awesome work. If you ever get a chance to see one of his displays, please don't hesitate!

Jacquie


Jacquie Rogers
Faery Special Romances (May 2007)
Take a look at the book video
Royalties go to Children's Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

Our Need for Imagery

Attention, Cave Persons! The summer blockbuster cave painting is coming your way soon. Roast your nuts and bring some bones to pick your teeth while you enjoy the latest offering from Norman Rockgood in the Cave of Lascaux. Yes, the pitchfork is missing.

Ah, but 'tis true: throughout human history, we've been enamored with the visual image. We use images for communication, recreation, relaxation, and well bad things, too. Humans don't have the keen hearing of a rabbit, of the ability to smell things like a wolf, but we see pretty darned well.

So first we drew on the walls of our caves, and then we drew on the walls of our houses and temples. Here's a Greek fresco from the 1st Century BCE called Polyphemus and Galatea in a landscape. The Minoans had been painting frescoes nearly two millennia before this. After that, the Egyptian artists created wonderful paintings on the public buildings, pyramids, and any place they found a blank wall. Today, they'd get arrested. :)

Of course, anything the Greeks did, the Romans had to do, too. Only bigger, if at all possible. Some of the Roman frescoes would be a bit racy by today's standards. Best hide your great-aunt Tillie's eyes.On the right is House of Venus and Mars from Pompeii. Mars is removing Venus's dress, while Cupid is being somewhat of a pest. This is a very tame painting compared to many found in Pompeii. The Romans weren't as sexually uptight as we are today, suffice it to say!

Fast-forward 1,000 years...

The entire tale of William the Conqueror and his knights meeting the leader of the Saxon army, Harold of Wessex, is told in the Bayeux Tapestry, a wonderful piece of stitchery that is divided into thirteen panels. It chronicles the setup, the execution, and the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings in 1066AD. So the Normans didn't write on their walls, but they found a way to express themselves, nonetheless.

Time-Travel Another 1,000 years...to 2003

Yes, we could've spent a lot of time on the imagery throughout the ages--savoring the timeless and beautiful Mona Lisa, marveling at Edison's moving pictures, sending a salute to Louis B. Mayer, and landing in Peter Jackson's lap to watch the three wonderful movies, Lord of the Rings. Okay, so I'd rather land in Aragorn's lap. Most any red-blooded female would.

Of course, most of Middle Earth would take us right back to the bison in the cave paintings, so we never strayed far from our roots. Whether we paint on our walls, or flash lights at our walls in our home theaters, humans have an incredible ability to escape into a fantasy land, where we are victorious and live Happily Ever After.

And the incredible thing about images is that even storytellers of the old school--that is, those of us who write down our tales instead of setting the words to sounds and images like Peter Jackson does, even we scribes are using images to catch readers' attention. How many writers have made book videos?

And there you have it. Images throughout time. Always different--always the same.

Jacquie


Jacquie Rogers
Faery Special Romances (Available now!)
Take a look at the book video
Royalties go to Children's Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research