The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-05-31
NEW FINDS AT POMPRu.


Shall yearn no more for the distant pasti
IN. p. Times.
NEW FINDS AT POMPEM
Twas anxious to see what was doing
at the new excavations, but knew that
the best things would be at once trans
ferred to the museum at Naples, so /
went there first. / found one room en-
tirely devoted to the newest frescoes-
There are about five pictures, averaging
four feet square, each full of quite ro-
mantle interest; some of these have
only been there a few weeks, and none
of them are yet labeled. The colors are
fresh, the drawing is equal to most
things at the Royal Academy, and the
century CA. d. 79) so suddenly lifted
into the daylight of 1881 is, L confess,
little ghostly. 1 should not have been
surprised on turning round to find a
Pompeiian of the arrested life of the pc
rod looking over my shoulder at some
of his old haunts. One of the largest
pictures gives sort of bird s-eye view
of the thester at Pompeii, with a wild
beast fight going on. You look down
upon the arena from some height. You
also command view of the street with
the passers-by and few booths, from
one of which q thief has stolen some
thing and is making off. The s'velari-
um," or vast awning, is half-drawn over
the top of the theater. 1t is, as far as /
know, the only cotemporary representa-
ton of the thing ever discovered. We
know that sailors were employed to
stretch q similar veil, supported by
poles, over the top of the Coliseum, but
exactly how the thing was managed
believe has puzzled antiquaries. They
may get hint from closer inspection
of this amazingly vivid bit of cotempo-
rary history. Two long flights of steps
outside enable the spectators to reach
the top seats without going inside the
theater. This is surely an admirable
idea, worthy of OR imitation. The next
day at Pompei puzzled over the ruins
of both theafers. could not make out
where these external stairs could have
been placed. In the painting they rise
from a public square, but the Temple of
Isis is built close against the big theater,
and the small theater is also completely
hemmed in by houses. Is it, perchance,
the theater of Herculaneum?
A large painting of sleeping bae-
chante, watched by satyr, might have
been designed by Etty in drawing,
color and perspective; it is mastery
study, showing besides great deal of
feeling for landscape painting, which,
not supposed to have cared for; but the
more we conceited creatures know of
them the more evident it is that they
knew quite as much about color and
drawing as they did about sculpture.
InnE of ond ThiSlro on he
other wall, or Mars and Venus, and a
capital study of Europa mounting the
bull, surrounded by her maidens. All
these are highly preserved, and show q
perfect ease, vigor and freshness of
handling that many a modern artist
might envy. The new find in bronze is
an exquisite seated statuette figure of
"Abundantia," about foot high, hold
ing a patera, or cup; her chair is adorned
with horns of plenty, and the pressure of
her body and the set of her drapery
over the cushion on which she sits is so
realistic that one expects to see her
move upon her chair or rise at any mo-
ment. Beside her is slave boy, in
backward attitude, about foot and a
half high, pouring wine into cup. This
Is also new.
1 visited Pompeii next day and went
straight to the diggings. The only won
der is that anything is ever dug up at
all; the process is ridiculously slow, even
for Italy. The directors sit all day on
the rubbish heaps smoking, and dozens
of children file up and down with their
little baskets of earth, while few idle
peasants shovel up few lazy spadefuls
at time. Still, the first thing saw
was the side of a dining-room, uncov-
cred only few days ago. On one side
was bright picture of fine cock and
hens in great state of excitement over
large basket of grain and red cherries
all upset Landseer could not have
done it better. The fondness of the
Pompeiians for birds and beasts and
fishes is very apparent, and they always
seemed to be dining. The wealth of
cooking apparatus in the museum is as
tonishing. You have saucepans perfo-
rated with countless holes in most elab-
orate patterns, every conceivable kind
of boiler and caldron, casts for jellies,
representing the PROSTATE hare and suck
ing pig; ladies, spoons, skewers, dishes
for roasting six eggs or dozen eggs at
once, toasting- forks, gridirons and fancy
machines for pastry and delicate con-
| fectionery, what in Elizabeth's day
were called "conceits'' In Pompeii
itself the ol-pots and wine amphore let
into slabs, and of mosaic work of col
ored marble, are among the quaintest
features of the ruined shops. 1 saw in
another new part fine dining-roOm,
| found three months ago, with some of
the liveliest animal painting imaginable.
The first section of the walls all round
represented the boldest scenes under
the sea-a conger struggling with an
octopus, shark pursuing its prey, a
shoal ;i St tish fying tS through r the a water,
section dealt with birds and wild fowls
floating, flying, quarreling, diving. and
the upper and largest section gave fierce
hunting scenes-a horse pursued by a
lion, an OK in desert scenery sprung upon
by tiger, and all these were set in
scenery of great force, variety and char
acter-woods, rivers. rocks and green
hills The corridors and ante-rooms OF
this house-are equally rich, the, walls CO