Bologna Museum Exhibition Explores Anonymous Painters of Pompeii
'I pittori di Pompei' (The Painters of Pompeii) is a significant exhibition at the Museo Civico Archeologico in Bologna, running throughout 2022. This showcase delves into the identities, techniques, and social standings of the unknown artists from Pompeii, displaying around one hundred paintings and artifacts, many of which are being shown for the first time, sourced from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Curated by Mario Grimaldi, the exhibition pays homage to Edoardo Brizio, the museum's inaugural director. It explores the artists' personalities and economic conditions through various studies. Notable features include forgeries, popular themes, artistic tools, and reconstructions of rooms from the House of Jason and House of Meleager, highlighting the grid system and imagery sources.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'I pittori di Pompei' at Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna, 2022.
- Curated by Mario Grimaldi.
- About 100 paintings and objects from MANN and its deposits, some first-time exhibited.
- Focus on anonymous painters of Pompeii, not the four styles.
- Only known painter's name is Lucius, attached to mediocre works.
- Edoardo Brizio, first director of the Bologna museum, studied in Pompeii from 1868.
- Brizio was present at excavation of House of Gavius Rufus; its frescoes are in the show.
- Includes forgeries, repertories, themes from Homer, Hercules and Omphale, Three Graces.
- Tools, pigment bowls, coins show techniques and economics.
- Reconstructed rooms from House of Jason and House of Meleager.
- Fragment from Villa A at Oplontis shows grid system for scaling models.
Entities
Artists
- Lucius
- Edoardo Brizio
- Mario Grimaldi
- John R. Clarke
Institutions
- Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna
- Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)
- Prima Scuola Archeologica Italiana
- University of Texas
- Artribune
Locations
- Bologna
- Italy
- Pompeii
- Herculaneum
- Boscoreale
- Naples
- Oplontis
- Ostia
- Rome
- Vesuvius