VII.7.30 Pompeii. School. Excavated 1818.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Entrance corridor leading west.

According to Garcia y Garcia, in this area reconstructed by Maiuri, were kept all the antiquities from pre-Samnite Pompeii.

This area was completely destroyed by bombing in 1943 together with the rooms on the south side, part of the Temple of Apollo, known as “la sagrestia”.

However, the major loss was the destruction of the collection from the archaic period.

The area has now been restored and altered with modern modifications, and once again used as a store for archaeological materials.

See Garcia y Garcia, L., 2006. Danni di guerra a Pompei. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider. (p.117)

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Steps to upper temple rooms and Forum porticus, next to VII.7.30 entrance.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Shop/room next to steps next to VII.7.30, at the rear is the passageway to the posticum of the Temple of Apollo.

The reconstructed room with the iron gates at the rear was the area where the painting of Bacchus and Silenus was found.

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. 1884 plan of temple area by Overbeck (with north to the right).

The corridor entrance of VII.7.30 is on the right at the side of the steps.

The small room "x" at the rear of the temple was the site of the painting of Bacchus and Silenus.

See Overbeck J., 1884. Pompeji in seinen Gebäuden, Alterthümen und Kunstwerken. Leipzig: Engelmann, fig. 49, p. 96.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Passage behind steps from Temple of Apollo. to corridor leading west from entrance at VII.7.30.

In this area would have been a room destined perhaps for the use of the Priests of the Temple, where the painting of Bacchus and Silenus was found.

VII.7.32 Pompeii. September 2018. Looking north to north-east corner of Temple, with doorway leading to VII.7.30.

The small room where the painting of Bacchus and Silenus was found would have been to the left through this doorway.

Foto Anne Kleineberg, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. Painting by Francesco Morelli, of wall in small room with painting of Bacchus and Silenus.

In this version, there is a cupid to the left of Bacchus, and not a panther (or a billy-goat, see below).

There are also differences in the medallions, the architectural paintings, and the painted plants.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number ADS 1199.

Photo © ICCD. https://www.catalogo.beniculturali.it

Utilizzabili alle condizioni della licenza Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Condividi allo stesso modo 2.5 Italia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 IT)

See Helbig, W., 1868. Wandgemälde der vom Vesuv verschütteten Städte Campaniens. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, (395).

See Carratelli, G. P., 2003. Pompei: La documentazione nell'Opera di disegnatori e pittori dei secoli XVIII e XIX. Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, p. 113 and 115.

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. 1825 drawing of the painting of Bacchus and Silenus. Small room at the rear of the temple.

Bacchus was holding the thyrsus in one hand and an upended cup in the other, with the panther below.

Silenus was playing his lyre for the god, with a basket of fruit by his feet.

See Real Museo Borbonico II, 1825, pl. 35.

According to Garcia y Garcia, this painting is now held at the Naples Museum, inventory number 9269.

See Garcia y Garcia, L., 2006. Danni di guerra a Pompei. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider. (p.112).

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. 1852 drawing by Gell of the painting of Bacchus and Silenus. Small room at the rear of the temple.

According to Kuivalainen: There are four 19th century versions of this painting, with only minor differences between them.

The basic composition is with two persons.

An almost naked youth with a cloak around his arms and wearing boots stands in the middle, leaning on the shoulder of Silenus, who plays the lyre; the youth pours wine from a cantharus in his right hand. In the foreground, on the left, sits a panther with left foreleg raised (in three versions, interpreted as a winged cupid in one) drinking the wine.

In the background, a landscape with rocks and a vine, on the right side a basket full of fruit and a crater on a short pillar.

Gell claims that the painting "had been anciently removed from another situation" and neatly fastened.

The drawing published by Gell is not as precise as the one by Bechi.

See Kuivalainen, I., 2021. The Portrayal of Pompeian Bacchus. Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 140. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, p. 168.

VII.7.32 Pompeii. September 2019. Looking east along north side of colonnade. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.

Cooke, Cockburn, and Donaldson wrote -

“At the end of the court, opposite the entrance, was a small chamber, which possesses an invaluable picture of Bacchus and Silenus, the former holding the thyrsus in one hand and a vase in the other; Silenus appears with his lyre instructing the god. A small niche is in the wall, apparently for the reception of a statue or lares.”

See Cooke, Cockburn, Donaldson: Pompeii, Pt 1, 1827, (p.55)

According to Garcia y Garcia –

“Because of the bombardment in 1943 there was much damage to the temple: it was hit by two bombs during the night of 13^th September, when the west portico with the demolition of part of the stylobate, four columns and the demolition of an 8m part of the perimeter wall to the west were hit. Hit again by a successive incursion, there followed the demolition of the north-east corner of the portico with fallen and partial loss of the IV Style painted plaster; the felling of part of the north perimeter wall, of four columns from the north portico and of the stylobate that surrounded the temple. The rear room to the north of the portico was completely destroyed. The painting of Bacchus and Silenus is now in the Naples Archaeological Museum.”

This small room, perhaps used by the priest, became to be known as the chamber of Bacchus.

See Garcia y Garcia, L., 2006. Danni di guerra a Pompei. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider. (p.111-112).

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. 1834 painting of the wall of the small room with the painting of Bacchus and Silenus.

Bacchus was holding the thyrsus in one hand and an upended cup in the other; Silenus was playing his lyre for the god.

Mazois could not understand why the artist had drawn a Billy goat rather than the panther seen in the original.

See Mazois, F., 1838. Les Ruines de Pompei : Quatrième Partie. Paris: Didot Frères, p. 39, note (1), pl. XLII.

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. c.1832.

Painting by Edmond Chambert, showing wall with central painting of Bacchus and Silenus, from the small room at the rear, opposite the entrance doorway.

See Chambert, E., 1832. Dessins de Pompeia. (p.19).

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. c.1817. Watercolour sketch by Chenavard of part of wall decoration with painting of Bacchus and Silenus.

See Chenavard, Antoine-Marie (1787-1883) et al. Voyage d'Italie, croquis Tome 3, pl. 108.

INHA Identifiant numérique : NUM MS 703 (3). See Book on INHA

Document placé sous « Licence Ouverte / Open Licence » Etalab   

VII.7.30/32 Pompeii. c.1819 painting by W. Gell painting of Bacchus and Silenus, from a chamber at the N.E angle of the Temple of Bacchus.

See Gell W & Gandy, J.P: Pompeii published 1819 [Dessins publiés dans l'ouvrage de Sir William Gell et John P. Gandy, Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompei, 1817-1819], pl. 66.

See book in Bibliothèque de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art [France], collections Jacques Doucet Gell Dessins 1817-1819

Use Etalab Open Licence ou Etalab Licence Ouverte

VII.7.30 Pompeii. September 2015. Stored objects.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. September 2015. Inscribed cippus from Pompeii Porta Nocera Tomb 15ES.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. May 2015. Looking west. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking west.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking west.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Looking west.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. May 2015. Amphorae, in storage. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. May 2015. Looking towards west end from entrance doorway, and amphorae in storage. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. May 2015. Details of amphorae, in storage. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Stored objects.

VII.7.30 Pompeii. December 2005. Stored objects.