On the superiority of Greek painters

Like most of his contemporaries Mau evaluated Roman art using a mixture of ancient literary references to Greek art, which he combined with a knowledge of Renaissance and nineteenth-century Neo-Classical painting. Ironically, the visual understanding of the former and the inspiration for the latter, both came from wall-painting found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since their discovery they provided the visual evidence for the ‘great epoch’ of Greek or Hellenistic painting. However, whilst citing them as such Mau denied them intrinsic merit by describing them as the work of copyists and house decorators. A theme that is echoed in Paul Zanker’s 1998 publication Pompeii: public and private life. Mau's Pompeii: its Life and Art contains numerous examples in which he disparagingly describes Pompeian artists as ‘decorators’, whilst Greek artists are venerated for their superior painting skills, for which there is still little evidence other than ancient literary references and mosaics that may have been copied from panel paintings (fig.1).

“Undoubtedly the Pompeian painting, or its original, is indebted to the masterpiece of the Greek artist; but the decorative painter has adapted this to suit his purpose,....."(314); ".....and the picture here used as the centre of a decorative framework of the fourth style is evidently a copy of a masterpiece.” (348); "...The interest is purely psychological, and several of the pictures that have been preserved give us an exceedingly favorable idea of the ability of ancient painters to express emotion, especially when we remember that these paintings are merely decorative copies of masterpieces the originals of which in most cases had probably never been seen by the workmen who painted the copies on the walls.” (468-9); “If we are seeking for the most perfect examples of ancient art, for masterpieces of the famous artists, we do not find them. Many of the Pompeian paintings appeal to modern taste; yet it would be as unfair to judge of the merits of ancient painting from the specimens which are worked into the decorative designs of Pompeian walls......" (500) (all quotes Pompeii: its Life and Art, 1899 edition)

The following summary by Mau encapsulates his overall view of Pompeian painting. “The period from 80 B.C. to 79 A.D. was as little creative in the field of painting as in that of sculpture. No new types appear, no improvements are worked out; the painter, as the sculptor, was an eclectic, who drew upon the creations of the past as suited his fancy, and contented himself with copying or imitating.” (461) His view is somewhat surprising in that the period he refers to covers the entire evolution of his Four Style classification, for which Mau cites no previous sources, other than the Greek or Hellenistic ‘masterworks’, which were thought to be panel paintings. In other words he completely overlooks the fact that whilst Pompeian artists may have taken pictorial inspiration from elsewhere, particularly in respect of mythological narratives, they may well have broken new ground in terms of environmental approaches to painting, located in a domestic context.