The Sun. — 1829-02-19 (London, England)

HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII.  M. Raoul Rochette has communicated to the French Academy of Inscriptions and the Academy of Fine Arts intelligence of high interest,. extracted from a letter from Pompeii, dated Jan. 15, concerning- the recent • excavations. It is as follows :  " The most brilliant discoveries are daily making at Herculaneum and Pompeii. A magnificent mansion is gradually appearing at Herculaneum, the garden of which, surrounded by colonnades, is the grandest which has hitherto been found. Some of the paintings with which it is decorated are of great interest. Among other mythological subjects there is a picture of Perseus, who, assisted by Minerva, is killing. Medusa; Mercury laying Argus to sleep, that he may ravish away the betutiful In; a subject very rare among the monuments of art ; Jason, the Dragon, and the three Hesperides. But the most remarkable objects in this mansion are some bas-reliefs in silver, fixed on elliptical tablets of bronze, and representing Apollo and Diana. There are numberless other articles of curiosity in furniture and household utensils.  " But as to ancient pictures, it appears that none approach in merit those discovered at a house in Pompeii. It is now certain that the quarter in which the excavations are going• on is the finest in the city. The Tuscan Atrium first presents itself in the mansion we are speaking of. This Atrium is surrounded with small rooms very prettily decorated, from which we pass into a garden, round which are also disposed apartments appropriated to visiters. To the left of the Atrium there_is a passage leading to large pot ticos supported by red pillars, and embellished with a profusion of beautiful paintings. " Among these pictures the following compositions are particularly remarkable:— " 1. Medea meditating the murder of her Children, who are innocently playing at dice, whilst their tutor at a short distance, conscious of Medea's intention, is lamenting the fate which impends over them. " 2. The Sons and Daughters of Niobe assailed with the arrows of Apollo and Diana. This is It picture full of pathos. " 3. Meleager departing fur the Chase of the Wild Boar of Calydyn. • . _  " 4. Perseus delivering Andromeda. " 5. A Bacchante.  " 6. The Muses.  " There are also some grotesque designs ; such as a pigmy teaching an ape to dance, as well as paintings of fruit and animals beautifully executed. These porticoes were devoted to promenading. They enclose a little garden, in the centre of which there is a basin for fish, and at the bottom was found a large triclinium, or dining-table, and seats for reclining. The gyirccum, or apartment appropriated to females, consists of a peristyleum, surrounded with porticoes leading into the apartments, where there is a luxurious display of pictures, executed in first-rate style. Castor and Pollux, the household gods, are on each side of the entrance ; the-other principal subjects are—Echo and Narcissus; Endynrion ; The Infant Achilles plunged into Styx by his mother 'Thetis ; Mars and Venus ; Saturn ; Orpheus ; Ceres ; Mars Pacific ; Jupiter Hosaitalis ; and a classical group of a Satyr and an Hermaphrodite.  " The exedrum, or study, is decorated with sonic admirable pictures, representing Bacchantes of incomparable beauty ; also a picture of Achilles drawing his sword against Agamemnon, and restrained by Minerva. Pictures oa this subject, but indifferently executed, have been before discovered among those in the Temple of Venus. There is here, likewise, Achilles, disguised as a woman, and detected by Ulysses ; Ulysses, begging and receiving alms front the faithful Eumteus, &c. The style of these paintings is said to be superior to any thing that has yet been discovered of ancient art. Front the exedrum we pass into a third garden, also surrounded with red columns, and adorned with pictures on the following subjects ; Pluedra, discovering her incestuous passion to Ilippolytes ; several tragic and comic scenes ; the fable of Xtra and iEgens ; Apollo, with Daphne, changed into a laurel. There is a little niche, or sacrarium, in the garden, front which we pass into a third peristyleum. Among the moveable articles found in this mansion, a casket is particularly mentioned, enriched with elegant ornaments in bronze, and deposited in a corner of the gyumccum. It contains 42, pieces of imperial gold money, and six of silver."— Paris Paper.