Painted Decoration on Campanian House Facades
Over the course of the last decade, studies of streets and their associated material features have offered important new insights into urban life in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Various aspects of the streetscape—from tabernae to traffic systems—have been explored in detail, transforming our interpretation of the street from a passive liminal zone into a space of action and activity. The decorative elements that once adorned the facades and footpaths of these cities, however, remain largely absent from these discussions. Domestic facade painting, in particular, has suffered from a dearth of scholarly interest—when compared with the lavish frescoes discovered inside houses, paintings applied to facades have often been described as “staid” and “austere.” This paper will re-examine this traditional reading of exterior decoration and offer some new thoughts on the art and architecture of Campanian domūs.