VI.2.29 Pompeii. Small house. Excavated 1812?

According to Fiorelli –

VI.2.29. “Un intonaco rosso, con riquadrature bianche e gialle, designa i confini di altra abitazione, la cui porta e fiancheggiata sulla via da un poggio di fabbrica. Oltre il piano superiore, essa era formata di tre o quattro stanze terrene, che non bene si distinguono perche in parte cadute, di un lungo corridoio con larario, e della cucina preceduta da breve area illuminata dall’alto, contenente un impluvio circondato di fiori, per raccogliervi le acque cadenti del tetto.”

See Fiorelli, G: Descrizione di Pompei, (p.91)

See Pappalardo, U., 2001. La Descrizione di Pompei per Giuseppe Fiorelli (1875). Napoli: Massa Editore. (p.52).

(Translation –the decoration on the front of this house was of yellow and white painted panels on a red background, at the side of the doorway and along the roadway was a masonry bench. Other than the upper floor, it consisted of three or four ground floor rooms that were not well distinguished because the walls had partly fallen, of a long corridor with a lararium, and of a kitchen preceded by a short area lit from above, containing an impluvium surrounded by flowers, to collect the rainwater that fell from the roof.)

VI.2.29 Pompeii. 1824 drawing by Mazois showing plan of house.

According to Mazois, this house would have been lived in by a citizen probably with a modest income, or a professional working from home, as there was neither a shop nor a place for any kind of work.

The house was in a small roadway; at the side of the doorway was a masonry bench, where the family could sit during the evening in the good weather taking the fresh air, as this house did not have a courtyard.

At the entrance was a small vestibule (1),

A room for a servant or slave (2),

Stairs (3),

A reception room (4), being lit by the three small openings in the passageways (5) and (7),

Passageway (7) leading to the dining room (6).

The kitchen (8) is recognisable by its bench and the tank (9), where one washed the dishes; in the passage was the well (7), where the opening was none other than a terracotta pot without depth.

Above these rooms were the bedrooms and the dwelling of the family.

See Mazois, F., 1824. Les Ruines de Pompei : Second Partie. Paris : Firmin Didot. (p.45-6, Pl IX. fig. II).

VI.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Entrance doorway.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Bench outside on south side of entrance doorway.

The house was in a small roadway; at the side of the doorway was a masonry bench, where the family could sit during the evening in the good weather taking the fresh air, as this house did not have a courtyard.

See Mazois, F., 1824. Les Ruines de Pompei : Second Partie. Paris : Firmin Didot. (p.45-6, Pl IX. fig. II).

VI.2.29 Pompeii. May 2011. Looking north along Vicolo di Modesto from outside entrance doorway, on left.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. October 2017. Looking south on Vicolo di Modesto, from entrance doorway.

Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. October 2017. Looking west towards entrance doorway.

Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. December 2018. Entrance doorway, looking west into room 1, a small vestibule.

Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. June 2023. Entrance doorway, looking into room 1, a small vestibule.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. May 2024. Room 3, left, and room 2, right.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. May 2024. Steps in room 3.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. Between 1819 and 1832. Steps in room 3.

Sketch by W. Gell showing a “Staircase of a small house”.

According to Jessica Mingoia [email] “I've identified the location of Gell's drawing as VI.2.29. I've included multiple photos that show the same view, with the stairs on the left and the wall on the rear. Though the walls have significantly darkened, you can still see the diagonal in the fresco on the rear wall that would have followed above where the stairs continued. There is also a window on that wall. On the left wall that abuts the street, though it does not exist to the same height today as it did in Gell's painting, you can see part of the window that is visible in his drawing. Though they are far more ruinous today, approximately 6-7 stairs remain. The partial wall directly to the right of the stairs is much more ruinous today but appears just as wide as the drawing.”

See Gell, W. Pompeii unpublished [Dessins de l'édition de 1832 donnant le résultat des fouilles post 1819 (?)] vol II, pl. 77.

Bibliothèque de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, collections Jacques Doucet, Identifiant numérique Num MS180 (2).

See book in INHA Use Etalab Licence Ouverte

Our thanks to Jessica for helping identify the location of this.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. May 2024. Room 3, steps on left and room 2, a room for a servant or slave, on right.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. May 2011. Steps against east wall of room 3, on south side of entrance doorway.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Room 3. Looking south to steps to upper floor, immediately to south of entrance doorway.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. June 2023.

Room 3, steps on left, room 2, a room for a servant or slave, and room 4 on right, a reception room lit by the three small openings in the passageways 5 and 7.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. June 2023. Room 2, left, and room 4, right.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. June 2023. Room 4, a reception room.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. June 2023. Room 4, left, and corridors 5 and 7, right.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Looking west from entrance doorway across room 1 to room 4, and along corridors 5 and 7 to rear.

According to Fiorelli, there was a lararium in the long corridor.

See Pappalardo, U., 2001. La Descrizione di Pompei per Giuseppe Fiorelli (1875). Napoli: Massa Editore. (p.52)

According to Boyce, in the north wall of the corridor is a niche with peaked ceiling formed by two tiles set at an obtuse angle.

Fiorelli referred to it as larario.

See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p.44, no.144).

VI.2.29 Pompeii. December 2018. Looking west in room 4 on south side of corridor 5. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. December 2018. Room 4.

Looking towards plaster on south wall with inscription. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. December 2018. Inscription in plaster on south wall of room 4. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. December 2018. Detailed enlargement of inscription in plaster on south wall of room 4. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. June 2023. Corridor 5 leading into corridor 7.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

VI.2.29 Pompeii. May 2024. Room 8 looking west from room 9 to VI.2.4.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Mingoia.

The kitchen (8) was recognisable by its bench and the tank (9), where one washed the dishes; in the passage 7 was the well, where the opening was none other than a terracotta pot without depth.

See Mazois, F., 1824. Les Ruines de Pompei : Second Partie. Paris : Firmin Didot. (p.45-6, Pl IX. fig. II).

VI.2.29 Pompeii, in top right corner.

Viewed from the model in the Naples Archaeological Museum.

According to Dyer:

“This small house in the Vicolo di Modesto had neither atrium nor peristyle; but in order to enable the family to enjoy the fresh air which the richer classes obtained in those courts, a stone bench ran along the front of the house.

The street door by the side of it opened into a sort of covered hall.

On the left some stairs led to an upper storey, behind which there was a small room apparently for the slave.

On the right-hand side was an uncovered passage, with a well at the end of it, running along the greater part of the house; on the left of which is what appeared to have been a workshop, with a doorway from the entrance hall and lit by small windows from the uncovered passage.

This room was followed by a dining-room entered by a doorway from the same passage, and behind this again, quite at the furthest extremity of the house, a kitchen, as may be recognised by the hearth.

The sleeping rooms must have been upon the upper floor.”

See Dyer, T., 1867. The Ruins of Pompeii. London: Bell and Daldy. (p.74)