Why the walls matter
Painted interiors were not a Roman invention, since the Aegean tradition of the Minoan civilization and Italian Etruscan tomb paintings had earlier precedents, but Pompeii preserved far more Roman painting than almost any other site. Entire rooms still have decoration on their walls, often in strong colour, because the volcanic layers protected them from weather and from later reuse. These paintings tell us about taste, wealth and belief, and they are the main surviving evidence for how Roman interiors looked. They also help scholars date buildings, since fashions in decoration changed over time.
Most of the best examples come from houses of the prosperous. Poorer homes and shops often had plain plaster or simple painted bands, so the surviving art represents the tastes of the better-off, not the whole town. Many of the paintings were made by workshops that likely worked from shared patterns and repeated certain themes, which is part of why similar compositions appear in different houses. The names of the painters are almost never known.
The four styles
In the 1880s the German scholar August Mau proposed dividing Pompeian wall painting into four successive styles. His scheme is still widely used, though modern scholars treat it as a convenient guide rather than a rigid timetable. Styles overlapped, and owners sometimes kept older decoration in place.
First style
The earliest style, common in the second century BCE and the early first century BCE, imitated masonry. Plaster was moulded and painted to resemble blocks of coloured stone, such as marble, without using real marble. It is sometimes called the incrustation or masonry style. The effect depended on relief and colour, and it reflects the influence of Greek-world palaces and public buildings.
Second style
From around the early first century BCE and through the century, painters began to create illusions of space. Walls were painted as if they opened onto columns, balconies, gardens and distant buildings. Perspective was used with increasing skill, and some rooms seem to dissolve their own boundaries. Theatrical imagery was popular, with painted stage fronts and doors. This style is associated with the late Republic and the early years of Augustus.
Third style
Under Augustus and his successors the fashion shifted towards elegance and restraint. Walls were divided into flat panels, often with a dark or brightly coloured background, framed by thin, delicate architectural elements and decorated with small central pictures. Instead of opening the wall, painters made it a surface. This style is often called ornamental, and it dominated for much of the first half of the first century CE.
Fourth style
The last style, current in the decades before the eruption, combined features of the earlier ones. Architectural fantasies returned, but in a more crowded and lively way, with a mix of panels, small scenes, still lifes and figures. It is the dominant style in many houses that were repaired after the earthquake of about 62 CE, including the House of the Vettii. The Fourth style is sometimes described as decorative overload, but that is a modern judgement, not a Roman one.
Subjects and colours
Pictures set into the walls drew on Greek myth, theatre and everyday scenes. Mythological scenes were popular, and the stories were usually familiar to educated viewers. Gardens, birds and plants were common, and some rooms were painted to seem as if they opened into a leafy garden. Still lifes of food and portraits of individuals also appear. Some houses contained erotic imagery, which was not regarded in the same way as in later periods and reflects different Roman attitudes, though how it was viewed by different people is not always clear.
The strong red often called “Pompeian red” is famous, as are black and yellow backgrounds. Some colour changes since excavation are due to exposure, and caution is needed in assuming the shades visible today are exactly what Romans saw. Techniques included true fresco painting on damp plaster and also additions in paint on dry plaster. Scholars debate how much plaster was polished and how glossy surfaces were achieved.
Pigment choice reflected cost. Some colours were relatively cheap, while others were costly, and a patron’s willingness to pay for them signalled wealth. The study of mineral pigments and other ancient crafts helps explain where such materials came from.
The Villa of the Mysteries
Just outside the city walls stands the Villa of the Mysteries, famous for a large painted frieze in one room. It belongs to the Second style and is generally dated to the middle of the first century BCE. Life-sized figures move around the room against a background of red panels, and they include women, a seated figure, winged beings and a nude young man. The scene is usually read as connected to Dionysus, the god of wine, and Dionysus himself is usually identified among the figures.
What the frieze means remains debated. Many scholars see an initiation into a Dionysiac cult, perhaps with a bride-to-be as central figure. Others suggest a marriage ritual or a more general representation of religion and women’s lives. No ancient text explains the picture, so every reading is an interpretation. This uncertainty is one reason the room is often described as mysterious, although the paintings themselves are not in doubt. The belief system behind them connects with the wider subject of myth and ritual.
Seeing the paintings today
Many wall paintings were removed in the 1700s and 1800s and taken to the museum in Naples, while others were left in place and suffered from weather and visitors. Some rooms are now protected by roofs and controlled access. Because paintings fade and flake once exposed, conservation is a constant concern.
As a record of taste, the painted houses show a society that valued display, mythology and illusion. They are a snapshot of the town as it had developed by 79 CE, not of a single moment, and their layers of redecoration reveal how households changed their surroundings over time.