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Discovery
Boscotrecase is a resort north of Pompeii on the southern side of Mount Vesuvius .The Villa was first discovered in 1902 during the construction of a new railway around Mount Vesuvius. Over the next few years a few rooms were partially excavated before an eruption of Vesuvius engulfed the villa once in 1905 more and destroyed most of the remnants remaining. The parts of the villa that were able to be excavated were located in the eastern part of the villa including; a servants room, rooms for agriculture, and bedroom of the owner. The wall paintings excavated from the villa of Boscotrecase are some of the finest examples of third style Roman paintings. Most of the frescoes which we excavated can be found today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as well as in the National Archeological Museum of Naples.

History
Many fancy Roman villas, including the Villa of Boscotrecase, could be found along the Gulf of Naples in Roman antiquity. The villa of Boscotrecase was built by Agrippa, the husband of Julia and military right hand man and son in law to Emperor Augustus. After Agrippa's death in 11 BC the property was handed down to his new born son, Agrippa Postumus and looked after by Julia. It was at this point when renovations begun and the panels were painted. These paintings are incredible examples of Third Style of Roman Painting which was a common and popular style during the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. The simple yet elegant frescoes have a similar style to those in the Villa Farnesia in Rome, implying that they were perhaps created by the same artist from Rome.

Frescoes
The wall paintings from the villa of Boscotrecase were painted directly onto the walls with naturalistic and deep colors as a base for the illustrious sacro-idyllic paintings. In many pieces of their work, the artist uses a dado to give the wall paintings a third dimensional base. The paintings which have been excavated came from the cubiculum 15, 16, and 19, more commonly known as the Black Room, Red Room, and Mythological Room respectively. Many of the wall paintings in these rooms depict Bucolic landscapes. In many of the frescoes there are candelabras depicted, a choice many artists made in Third Style painting The main features found in these sacro-idyllic frescoes are depictions of natural landscapes with a sacred structure. These sacred structures depict Roman architecture and in the natural landscape there are oftenly depicted as people, goats, birds, rocks and trees.

The Black Room
The Black Room is located in cubiculum 15. The floor space of the Black Room is 15 ft. 6 in. by 17ft. 8in. The height of the room is 7ft. 10in. There is a narrow West doorway as well as a Southern entrance leading out to the balcony .This room, located in the southern part of the villa, is black with a red dado to create a third dimension in the wall painting. The dado is most well preserved on the North wall. Every wall has its own, frameless, sacro-idyllic landscape. Located on the sides of the east and west wall are tripods and candelabras. One the West and North wall there are also cracked yellow tablets with Egyptian scenes and gods on them. On the North wall there is a vase supporting an Egyptian tablet. There are many debates on who is depicted in this scene and which Egyptian Gods are portrayed. There is also a portrait face in this room with a similar style to the Julio-Claudian house. The long blond hair in this portrait dismisses the idea that it is depicting Augustus and favors the idea that the man depicted was Agrippa instead.

The Red Room
The Red Room is the most well preserved room in the Villa of Boscotrecase and is located in cubiculum 16, adjacent to the black room. The floor space of the Red Room is 15ft. 6in. by 17ft. 8in. The height of the room 9ft. 10in. There are two narrow doorways in this room, as well as another southern entrance to the balcony. This room is primarily red with a black dado. The floor is white. The North wall landscape shows a rocky island with one large tree, many statues of deities, a shepherd with a flock of goats, and a temple. On the East wall there is a similar landscape with rocks, a cliff, a sacred pedestal, and a shepherd. The west wall also has similar features with a fig tree, the head of a goat, and many people. These wall painting are more great examples of sacra-idyllic landscape. In this room there are also many paintings of plants, trellises, masks, hawks, and a griffin.

The Mythological Room
The Mythological Room is located in cubiculum 19, on the east side of the Villa closest to the main entrance. The floor space of the Mythological Room is 10ft. 6in. by 17ft. 8in. There is a narrow doorway facing south and a much wider doorway facing west connecting this room to the rest of the house. This room was severely damaged by the eruption of Vesuvius and fragments on the west and east walls are preserved. Unfortunately, some of the pieces excavated artwork were wrongly assembled. All of the artwork from this room can be located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The dado in this room was not preserved. In the center of the red panels there are decorations including greek mythological Sirens and decorated swags with fruit, flowers, and foliage. On the yellow frieze are tablets with masks, griffins, and an Egyptian divinity. Another tablet found in this room have Egyptionizing divinity and a long-tailed bird, which is depicted in other rooms as well. This room contains paintings of Polyphemus and Galatea as well as Perseus and Andromeda.

Cubiculum 20
This room was partly explored and was very much damaged by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It is believed that this room had a red dado. Depicted on the wall paintings are multiple vases and candelabras.

Bibliography:

Alexander, Christine. "Wall Paintings of the Third Style from Boscotrecase." Metropolitan Museum Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, 1929 pp. 176-186. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1522722

Blanckenhagen, Peter Heinrich von, Christine Alexander, Joan R. Mertens, and Christel Faltermeier. The Augustan Villa at Boscotrecase. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1990.

Blanckenhagen, Peter H, and Christine Alexander. The Paintings from Boscotrecase. Heidelberg: F.H. Kerle, 1962. Print.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Augustan Villa at Boscotrecase.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bsco/hd_bsco.htm (October 2004)

Mazzoleni, Donatella, and Umberto Pappalardo. Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House. J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007.