Pompeii No.42: A Return for Marcus Aurelius

My original idea for filling this wall was to create a trompe l'oeil arrangement that resembled a wall of the London residence of Sir John Soane.

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Not only was Soane England's premier Neoclassical architect, but he appears to have been the first person to collect architectural salvage on a large scale. Later in life, he trained young architects from his house, and his collection became an important source of learning for them. Sir John Soane had a very modern design sense, and I'm a huge fan of his work. You can read more about him in the homage I posted here.

At some point, though, I realized that to continue my masonry lines and to also paint architectural remnants would be much too busy, and that I would be better off to pick one great sculpture and give it preeminence.

I settled on this huge sculpture of barbarians kneeling before Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who is about to pardon them. The sculpture, which is nearly life-sized, is incorporated into the main staircase of the Palazzo del Conservatori, one of the Capitoline Museums. It's interesting that the emperor's gesture mirrors the statue of him that is in front of the same museum, below.

Looking at the composition, I was bothered by one head that seemed slightly out of scale, and which, in my opinion, detracted from the head of the emperor's immediate companion, Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus. And so I took the liberty of removing it — adiós!

I begin by outlining the figures. All the straight lines are still in pencil because I'll go back and define them with a straightedge.

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Next I work in the middle of the image because I want to be satisfied with all the faces early in the process. I'm using Sherwin Williams paints the same way I'd use artists' acrylics, developing depth through washes of increasingly darker tones. I generally paint a range of middle tones, then paint darker tones, then paint highlights. Most of the real work is done in the middle tones.

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Here's the final image, what I call the Marcus Aurelius Plaque. You might recall that there is a roundel portrait of the emperor on the other side of the kitchen door, so I now also have a Marcus Aurelius Wall.

Looking towards the living room — I painted the plaque to match the coloration of the transom sculptures.

Here's a view looking back towards the kitchen.

In the next posting, I'll address something that's been bothering me for months, and I know it will improve the whole room. I hope you'll join me then!

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Pompeii No.41: The Kitchen Masonry

Here's the kitchen masonry painted, and now the Pompeii Room is starting to look finished on all three sides (four, if you count the transom). As you can see, the mural turns a corner into the living room, to meet a bookcase.

Because the masonry is rather stylized, I've kept the pediment equally simple, but I haven't decided whether it should be more ornate. On one hand, more detail might be fun, and on the other hand, no amount of detail will make the pediment truly trompe l'oeil because the 3-dimensional door frame is always seen at close range. What do you think — more detail, or leave as is?

Here's the kitchen surround, looking into the living room. As you can see, the kitchen masonry dovetails into the transom, which in turn meets the masonry of the opposite wall.

I've left room for a plaque to go in this space, and it might just be my favorite detail yet. Can you guess what will go here? All will be revealed in the next posting, and I hope you'll join me then!
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Pompeii No.40: The Kitchen Door Frame

In my posting No. 39, I revealed the corner of my dining room dedicated to Marcus Aurelius, below:

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Now it's time to move to the the yellow wall and tackle the kitchen door and the area that surrounds it, as seen in the diagram above and the image below:

Oh, oh, the color photo didn't turn out too well, so we'll make it a duotone and pretend it's an old archival image. The door frame was put up before I had any thought of a mural, so it's not Pompeian in style. I'd describe it as Elizabethan.

The door frame was designed around two angelic furniture details that were a Christmas gift many years ago from my sister-in-law, Alice. The rest of the door frame was built to my design by a very talented artist, Jerry Jones. When I designed the door, I was actually thinking of that great English treasure, Knole House, below.

knoleconservationteam.wordpress.com

Because the door frame was moved to my house from my previous address, it was not exactly flush to the wall. So the first order of business was to fill in a slight gap with a mixture of caulk, spackle — and on some rounded edges — papier maché.

I've painted the door frame to look like stone, and the rest of the wall will match the other masonry in the room.

Here's the finished kitchen door and the base coat for the wall, with masonry lines penciled in.

If you look closely, you can see that I've penciled a pediment over the door frame. I hope the result will give it a slightly more Neoclassic feel.

And I hope you join me for the next posting,

when I paint the blocks, and mortar them into place!

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Pompeii No.37: Painting the Legends

I thought it appropriate to label the roundel portraits (the last three of the Five Good Emperors), and so I cast about for a good label design to do them justice.

Here's how Michelangelo labeled each of the Sibyls in the Sistine Chapel. That's what I settled on, and as it turns out, my choice of colors is close to his as well.

This type of design is called "strapwork," because the shapes mimic the artful designs that leather and metal straps of Michelangelo's time featured. My blogging friend Theresa of Art's The Answer has posted extensively about strapwork, and you can read more about it at her site, here.

Below is the primary wall of the Pompeii Room, finished above the green bar. I'll be doing more work on the green and red areas a little later.

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Notice that the two roundel portraits on this wall balance the clipeus, or metal shield that hangs over the cityscape. Likewise, the bases of the muses balance the flowers and the white cloth behind them, in the identical stepped pattern. Finally, within the cityscape itself, the divided pediments in the background follow the stepped pattern as they relate to the foreground pediment.

I have one more element to add above Marcus Aurelius, and then we'll look at his wall, too. But first, I'll be sharing a Pompeian surprise that came my way recently. I hope you'll join me next week for that!

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Pompeii No.36: Last of the 5 Good Emperors

Marcus Aurelius  |  photo illustration, Mark D. Ruffner

In my last posting, I unveiled my Pompeii Room portrait of Emperor Antoninus Pius. Hadrian had named Antoninus Pius his successor on the condition that he would adopt the young Marcus Aurelius and also Lucius Verus (who was the son of Lucius Ceionius Commodus — Hadrian's first-chosen successor), and make them co-heirs. This Antoninus Pius faithfully did. His faithfulness to such a demand was one of the reason's the Romans called him "Pius."

the young Marcus Aurelius  |  mutualart.com

Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) displayed qualities from a very early age that made people think that he would be a fine choice to become emperor. He was born into an aristocratic family, yet at an early age embraced Stoicism, preferring to live so simply that he had to be persuaded to sleep in a bed rather than on the ground. He had a fine education, including lessons from Alexander of Cotiaeum, the leading Homeric scholar of the day, and Herodes Atticus and Fronto, the leading orators of the day.

After Antoninus Pius adopted him, Marcus Aurelius married the emperor's daughter, Faustina the Younger, who was — through his adoption — also his step-sister. Thereafter he was given high appointments at a very early age, though his quick ascent did nothing to change his good, studious character.

a bust of Lucius Verus from the Metropolitan  |  commonswikimedia.org

Upon Antoninus Pius' death in 161 A.D., Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus became co-emperors. The Senate was prepared to declare only Marcus Aurelius as emperor, but Marcus Aurelius insisted that Hadrian's plan of succession be fulfilled. It might have been a formula for disaster, except that Lucius Verus was outranked and perfectly happy to play second fiddle. He left Rome on several military campaigns, lived a life of debauchery, and died in 169 A.D.

Thereafter, Marcus Aurelius ruled alone until his death in 180 A.D. He is probably best remembered for his personal musings, Meditations, and for being the quintessential philosopher-king. Ironically, this scholarly emperor spent much of his reign away from Rome, fighting German tribes along the empire's borders.

Here's my portrait of Marcus Aurelius, in the style of Hadrian's and Antoninus Pius'. It hangs above the Muse of Painting, on the opposite wall.

I hope you'll join me next week when I add labels to these portraits, making use of a design by none other than Michelangelo.

See you then!

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Pompeii No.35: Painting Emperor Antoninus

Antoninus Pius  |  icollector.com

In my last posting, I revealed Emperor Hadrian's portrait in my Pompeii Room — he was the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian neared the end of his reign with no heirs, and so in 136 A.D. adopted a consul named Lucius Ceionius Commodus to be his son and successor. The designee died in early 138 A.D., much to the distress of Hadrian, who had spent vast funds on public celebrations for the heir-no-more!

photo illustration, Mark D. Ruffner

Hadrian then adopted Antoninus (86-161 A.D.), above, and named him successor. Antoninus (pronounced anto⋅nine⋅us) had been a very successful proconsul of both Italia and Asia. Hadrian was dead within the year.

Though he is remembered as one of the Five Good Emperors, Hadrian had sunk into a state of paranoia in his last days, and had condemned a number of senators to death. Antoninus saved the senators who remained and then went on to adhere very closely to Hadrian's programs. He also convinced the Senate to deify Hadrian, and though now emperor, when he went to the Senate, Antoninus took care to physically support his aged father-in-law. The Romans took note of all these acts and qualities and gave the emperor the name, "Antoninus Pius," by which history has always remembered him.

Antoninus Pius' major legacy was his revision of the Roman legal code, and in particular he instituted the rule that a defendant should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. He also believed that special circumstances could be more important than the letter of the law. Antoninus Pius extended friendship to Jews and Christians, and coincidentally had the calmest reign (138-161 A.D.) in Roman imperial history.

Some historians say that in that regard, he benefited from following in the footsteps of Hadrian. His governing style was one of delegation, and in fact Antoninus Pius never left Italy during his reign.

My dining room portrait of Antoninus Pius follows the same style as Hadrian's ...

... and he is placed above the Muse of Sculpture (I'll be showing the nearly completed wall later in the month.).

I hope you'll join me next week
for the last of the Five Good Emperors!

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Pompeii No.34: Painting Emperor Hadrian

In my last posting, I dedicated a bust on my dining room's transom to Emperor Trajan. Trajan died without an heir, but is reputed to have named his cousin, Hadrian (76 A.D.-138 A.D.), on his deathbed.

Hadrian is always depicted with large and tightly permed curls around his forehead, and he was the first of the Roman emperors to sport a beard. He spent much time raising the standard and readiness of the army, and had a preference for wearing military uniforms.

Hadrian and Antinous   |   www.britishmuseum.org

Hadrian had from an early age immersed himself in Greek culture (hence his beard), so much so that as a young man he was nicknamed Graeculus, or "Greekling." Even the shortest biography would be incomplete were it not mentioned that he loved all things Greek, including a Greek youth named Antinous. When Antinous drowned (probably between the ages of 18 and 20), the emperor literally idolized him, erecting temples in Antinous' name. Throughout his reign, Hadrian continued to pay much attention to the welfare of Athens, which he promoted as a cultural center of the Roman Empire.

The Pantheon   |   commons.wikipedia.org   |   trekearth.com

Because Hadrian reigned during a stable period, he had the luxury of patronizing the arts and of beautifying the city of Rome. The computer-generated, marbled sets of Rome that we see in movies like Gladiator are probably approximations of Hadrian's projects, which were both new monuments and renovated ones. He is especially remembered for the construction of the Pantheon, which was, and remains, an architectural and engineering marvel. Its dome is even larger than the Vatican's.

Hadrian's Wall   |   photograph by Oliver Benn/Getty Images

Despite his affinity for military maneuvers, Hadrian averted war through diplomacy, and abandoned inroads Trajan had made into Mesopotamia and Armenia when he concluded them to be militarily indefensible. To ensure peace, he also strengthened Rome's borders, most notably erecting Hadrian's Wall across Rome's northern border of Britannia.

Hadrian was considered wise and just; he revised the legal code, and though he did not abolish slavery, he diminished it and its excesses.

My design for the portraits of the remaining three emperors somewhat resembles a plaque by Josiah Wedgwood, or perhaps a roundel by Andrea della Robbia.

I chose a golden frame to complement the golden garland that hangs above. I think it's quite appropriate that this image of Hadrian is positioned above the Muse of Architecture. (I'll show the whole wall a little later.)

I hope you'll join me next week when I reveal a portrait

of the fourth of the Five Good Emperors.

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Pompeii No.33: Painting Emperor Trajan

In my last posting I dedicated a dining room bust to the Emperor Nerva. His predecessors had been so cruel and tyrannical, and Nerva was so just by comparison, that he was perceived by the army to be weak. Fearing his own assassination, Nerva adopted the popular Trajan, a general of Spanish origin, and named him his successor. Nerva thereby placated the restless army, and soon thereafter died peacefully in his sleep.

click to enlarge   |   map by Mark D. Ruffner

Trajan (53-117 A.D.), a soldier-emperor, was regarded in his own time as the best of Roman emperors, and his reputation has endured. The Roman Empire reached its maximum territory under his reign, and if you click on the map above, you can see the extent of what he controlled. Trajan inaugurated public works and social welfare, and presided at a time of peace and prosperity. The Roman Senate would venerate all future emperors with the words, "Be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan."

en.wikipedia.org   |   trauwerk.stanford.com   |   artflakes.com

Almost all images of Trajan reveal a commanding figure with a low brow and a stern countenance. For my transom bas relief, I've chosen the image on the right. I like it because it's a little softer, yet shows someone who must have been very calculating.

Here's my version of the Emperor Trajan. And below is a perspective of the finished transom.

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By now you may have figured out that the remaining three of the Five Good Emperors will each be painted above one of the three muses on the other walls of my room. I hope you join me for my next posting and the fun of another imperial portrait!

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I posted earlier about a modern typeface called "Trajan," based on the inscription of the famous Trajan Column. You can find it here. Appropriately, the incised names of "Nerva" and "Trajan" are in the Trajan font, which I expanded for spacing.

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