New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-25
ANCIENT FRESCOS.
The Boscoreale Paintings at the
Metropolitan Museum.


bronze chariot and other Etruscan objects at
the Metropolitan Museum Of Art which, at
p<ivate view for members tomorrow, VIII DE
shown to them for the first time To-day we
deal with the ancient frescos which Will pe
brought forward at the Museum on the sdnie
occasion. These paintings, as important III 'ii
way as the bronze chariot, come from Spot III
Italy which yielded up rich treasure "heh 1t
was explored several years ago. In the Io"i-
peiian villa o. Boscoreale were found not only
the beautiful vessels of silver which Baron Ed
mond de Rothschid later presented 10 the
Louvre but some very rare pieces of money ana
some remarkable articles OF furniture winch Are
in the Museum at Berlin THESE mus "eie
enough in themselves to confer celebrity upon
the little hamlet on the slope OF Vesuvius, Out
still further discoveries were to be mace Iii INC
country house for so many centuries puiieu ou'
of sight In 1900 Signor NincenZo de TriSoo
brought to light number OF beautilui wan
paintings and when these were recently sent 10
Paris TO be sold the trustees of the metropolitan
Museum took advantage of the opportunity.
with the result that we now have here In New
York some priceless illustrations of ancient dec
oratiye art in one Of its most interesting as
poets.
The villa they adorned appears to have passed
through the hands of more than one owner.
An inscription surviving I'm 1T indicates that IL
was once sold at auction, under the first con-
sulate Of Germanicus. Some of the paintings
were probably executed prior to this event.
others are with tolerable certainty to be
ascribed to a later date. Whoever the last pro-
prietor of the villa, Lucius Herennius Florus
may have been may be sure that he was
rich man and a lover of luxury. for only house
of the higher class would have been so lavishly
decorated. The reconstruction of the Cubiculun,
COR example, at the Metropolitan Museum, pre-
senting the paintings precisely as they looked
down upon the daily life of the villa in the time
of Florus himself. shows us wildly how stump
tuous was the environment Of those ancient
families. The color has been wonderfully well
preserved. considering the time that has elapsed
since it laid the walls 1t is still brill
liant, still beautiful with the warmth and deli
cacy which testify at once to the vitality and
to the good taste of the people of that age.
The panels painted for the different rooms
and corridors of the villa fall naturally into two
groups. One is composed Of the designs which
embody motives almost exclusively architec-
tural, the introduction of figure or landscape
detail here and there doing nothing to change
the formal character of the work Temples
and paviIions represented in these schemes.
painted with dubious effect SO far as perspect-
i've is concerned, but with excellent sense
of composition, the fabrics portrayed filling the
decorative manner. In other parts of the work
the frescos are more conventional The
walls are divided into panels painted in fiat
tints, and these embellished by garlands
OF fruit and LEAKAGE with masks and other sym
bols entering into the arrangement. But the !
most interesting of al these paintings are the
figure pieces, in which imposing models are
broadly and noby painted
The Cithariste,' which was taken from the |
wall of the Grand Triclinium. is a superb plct-
IRE of a musician, whose robust form, ample |
draperies and dignifed attitude have been han
died by the artist in a vein of heroic simplicity. |
TINS is almost sculptureSque in its massive char
acter, but in its fine lines and in its color the
key is that from which the Pompeiian school
rarely strayed one of notable refinement An
other impressive figure in the collection Is that
OF a woman bearing a shield. which likewise
comes from the Grand Triclinium. over these
souvenirs of the ancient mural painters these
powerful life studies which possess both in
feeling and execution curioUsly modern quail
lty, it is probable that the spectator Will be
most disposed to linger. Yet the charm Of the
Boscoreale frescos is better realized, perhaps.
when We consider the collection a whole and
try to recreate in the minds eye the spectacle
which the villa must have presented when 1t
and in and out of the richly furnished rooms
men and women moved with the sunny light
of the south drifting here and there into The