House of the Citharist

7. Gilding the Lily: Painting Palaces and Villas in the First Century A.D.

Roman Architecture (HSAR 252)

Professor Kleiner discusses the development of Third Style Roman wall painting in late first century B.C. villas belonging to the imperial family and other elite patrons. Third Style painting, as Professor Kleiner demonstrates, is characterized by departure from the perspectival vistas and panoramas of the Second Style toward an attenuation of architectural elements and a respect for the inherent flatness of the wall. The Third Style remains popular until the middle of the first century A.D., when it is replaced by the Fourth Style of Roman painting; both styles coexist in the Domus Aurea, the luxurious pleasure palace of the emperor Nero in downtown Rome. Professor Kleiner characterizes the Fourth Style of Roman wall painting as a compendium of previous styles, with imitation marble veneer, framed mythological panels, and the introduction of fragments of architecture situated in an illogical space.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Third and Fourth Style Roman Wall Painting
11:41 - Chapter 2. Transition from Second to Third Style at Oplontis
23:00 - Chapter 3. The Mature Third Style at Boscotrecase
37:26 - Chapter 4. A Third Style Garden and Fabullus Paints the Domus Aurea in Rome
55:11 - Chapter 5. Fourth Style Eclecticism and Display in Pompeii
01:07:36 - Chapter 6. Scenographic Painting in Herculaneum

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website:

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.