Exhibition: Pompei e l'Europa. Natura e Storia (1748 - 1943)

A new exhibition at the Naples Museum and at Pompeii will open in May:

Pompei e l'Europa. Natura e Storia (1748 - 1943) 

Si articolerà in due sedi la mostra "Pompei e l’Europa. Natura e Storia (1748 – 1943)", in programma dal 26 maggio al 2 novembre 2015, a cura di Massimo Osanna, Luigi Gallo e Maria Teresa Caracciolo. 

La mostra intende analizzare, attraverso diversi focus, la suggestione operata dal sito di Pompei sugli artisti, dall’inizio degli scavi nel 1748 al drammatico bombardamento del 1943. Il confronto fra reperti antichi e opere moderne rende esplicita l’influenza della classicità sugli sviluppi dell’arte e dell’estetica moderna, fra emulazione e reinterpretazione.
La prima rassegna dal titolo "Natura e Storia (1748-1943)" sarà allestita a Napoli al Museo Archeologico Nazionale e permetterà di evidenziare l’influenza del sito sugli artisti europei dal Settecento al Novecento. 

La seconda parte della mostra si terrà direttamente negli scavi di Pompei, dove saranno presentati i calchi delle vittime dell’eruzione recentemente restaurati dalla Soprintendenza. Un’ulteriore sezione della mostra, intitolata "Fotografare e documentare Pompei" e curata dallo stesso Massimo Osanna, insieme a Grete Stefani ed Ernesto De Carolis, occuperà il portico dell’Anfiteatro ed esporrà una scelta significativa del materiale fotografico conservato nella Soprintendenza Speciale di Pompei, Ercolano e Stabia.

 See here for more details.

 

News: "Pompei, il nostro orgoglio". Il ministro Franceschini propone visita agli Scavi in occasione di Expo2015

From r.it Napoli:

"Pompei, il nostro orgoglio". Il ministro Franceschini propone visita agli Scavi in occasione di Expo2015

"Pompei è un grande cantiere, è un cantiere perenne. Oggi ci sono 13 cantieri aperti, 9 con gare aggiudicate, è un lavoro straordinario, sono aumentati i visitatori. Bisogna denunciare ciò che non va, ma avere un po' di orgoglio per ciò che va. Spero che Expo sia l'occasione perché anche noi possiamo vedere il nostro Paese con gli occhi stupiti, come i turisti stranieri". Il ministro alla Cultura, Dario Franceschini, intervenendo a Firenze alla iniziativa di Expo parla di Pompei.

Read the full article here.

More from the Jashemski Archive compared with pompeiiinpictures

Here are more photos from the Jashemski Archive and pompeiiinpictures, this time comparing 1968 and 2005. These are from the Complesso dei Riti magici or the Magic Rites Complex II.1.12.

II.1.12 Pompeii. 2005. Entrance doorway.

Photo by Jackie and Bob Dunn www.pompeiiinpictures.com

II.1.12 Pompeii, 1968. Entrance doorway.

Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski. J68f0270 

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

Pompeii. May 2005. Two pilaster paintings (at top on beam) from entrance façade of II.1.12.

These were displayed in III.3.6.

Photo by Jackie and Bob Dunn www.pompeiiinpictures.com

The two pilaster paintings shown in May 2005 were in the Schola Armaturarum at the time of its collapse in November 2010, and they may or may not have been destroyed.
Does anyone know what happened to them?

This comparison also highlights the fact that many of our pictures are now 10 years old.
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that we are coming back to live in the UK.
This will allow us to make more frequent trips to Pompeii than has been possible from Australia.
We intend to retake all the photos, highlighting the improvements made over the years.

See more of Complesso dei Riti magici on pompeiiinpictures.com

Jackie and Bob at pompeiiinpictures

New articles in AJA 119.2

The American Journal of Archaeology is out now and available on JSTOR. There are two Pompeii-related articles:

Duncan Keenan-Jones, Somma-Vesuvian Ground Movements and the Water Supply of Pompeii and the Bay of Naples 

Molly Swetnam-Burland, Encountering Ovid's Phaedra in House V.2.10–11, Pompeii

Pompeii Photos: Ancient Roman city remains unscathed by 'selfie' generation

From Science Daily:

Pompeii Photos: Ancient Roman city remains unscathed by 'selfie' generation

Photos tourists take of Pompeii are almost identical to those taken by our ancestors. After examining 19th and early 20th century lantern slides of Pompeii and modern day photos researchers discovered the shots taken around the site are remarkably similar.

Read more here.

Lecture: Male and Female Prostitutes at Pompeii: Recovering Agency and Oppression in the Purpose-built Brothel

This livestream event is happening this evening at the American Academy!

Monday 7pm (Rome) (1:30pm EST; 10:30am PST)

Male and Female Prostitutes at Pompeii: Recovering Agency and Oppression in the Purpose-built Brothel: http://new.livestream.com/aarome/events/3818825

Summer School at Herculaneum

Summer School at Herculaneum

The Herculaneum Society is pleased to announce scholarships for undergraduates and postgraduates to participate in two summer schools in the archaeology, history and culture of Herculaneum and other Vesuvian sites, 22-26 June 2015 and 7-11 September 2015. The schools will be operated by Dr Christian Biggi, Director of BIG Heritage Consultancy, with the assistance of by Dr Joanne Berry, author of The Complete Pompeii. You will be taught by a team with many years' experience in operating schools, and who have been closely involved in major initiatives in Vesuvian archaeology. You will stay in a luxurious 4* hotel in Ercolano, with easy access to the Herculaneum excavations. Appearances by guest specialists in archaeology and history add an extra dimension. On this year's courses, a session led by Dr Dirk Obbink of Oxford University, world-renowned papyrologist and trustee of the Herculaneum Society, is planned.

The Society can offer up to four scholarships of £500 (€650) each to deserving students. In addition, there are two free places on each course for accompanying staff to help with oversight of students. Please enquire with the Society if you are interested in taking this task on (herculaneum@classics.ox.ac.uk).

For full details of programme and registration procedures, please click here. You can register as an individual, or a group. In the latter case, please contact the Society as soon as possible (herculaneum@classics.ox.ac.uk) .

Applications are due at the latest one month before the course is due to start. To be considered for a scholarship, applications must be made at the latest six weeks before the course is due to start.

 

VILLA DEI MISTERI DOPO I RESTAURI

VILLA DEI MISTERI DOPO I RESTAURI
Riapre dopo i restauri

PRESENTAZIONE ALLA STAMPA POSTICIPATA AL 20 MARZO – ORE 11,00

INAUGURAZIONE CON IL MINISTRO FRANCESCHINI

La presentazione alla stampa della Villa dei Misteri, a seguito degli interventi di restauro degli affreschi, è posticipata al giorno 20 marzo alle ore 11,00, contestualmente alla riapertura al pubblico della Villa che seguirà al termine della conferenza.
All’inaugurazione sarà presente:

• • il Ministro Dario Franceschini
• • il Soprintendente Massimo Osanna
• • il Direttore Generale del Grande Progetto Pompei, Giovanni Nistri
• • i funzionari e tecnici restauratori che hanno curato gli interventi sugli apparati decorativi.

L’accredito per i giornalisti interessati dovrà pervenire entro il 19 marzo, ore 12,00 al seguente indirizzo mail pompei.ufficiostampa@beniculturali.it.

Vedere il sito web dal Soprintendenza

Pompeii's Villa of the Mysteries reopens

Pompeii's biggest house, the Villa of the Mysteries, is set to reopen in its entirety on March 20, following nearly two years of restoration work that began in May 2013.

The restoration was conducted in lots so that parts of the Villa were still open to the public throughout the restoration process.

The recent restoration work, which involved 70 rooms of the Villa, corrected some of the damage inflicted by previous restoration techniques that were found to be harmful to the Villa's frescoes over the years.

In work done during the 1930s, wax was applied to preserve the frescoes, but ultimately faded the colours, something that was corrected using techniques to first identify the nature of the chromatic alterations and other damage over time and then perform restorations.

In addition to work done to restore the Villa's frescoes, work was also done to clean the intricate mosaic floor decorations.

See full article on the Archaeology News Network
See Villa dei Misteri on pompeiiinpictures

Miniature vessels, neighbourhood shrines and women's work

In the Insula VI.1 post-excavation project  we have recently been looking at our miniature ceramic vessels, and a paper on this has just been published in FOLD&R.   One type we found in large numbers were the enigmatic coperchi. Unlike the common two-handled calici  it seems very difficult to find examples of these outside of Pompeii – and they are not common there. 

  

Coperchi from Insula VI.1

 

Lara Anniboletti’s work on the niches and house-front shrines is relevant here, as one of them has also produced coperchi.  The associations of the coperchi seem to suggest that they are linked with neighbourhood cults, unlike the calice which are found in a wider variety of contexts.

 Whilst cataloguing them I noticed they were very impractical as vessels, but functioned quite well as little cymbals. I tossed this in as observation at the end of the paper. The referees liked it and wanted it developed. This was interesting as if we consider them as ‘musical’ instruments then they would be very appropriate for the sort of processions likely to have taken place in neighbourhood cult ceremonies.   

 Extrapolating further, clappers and cymbals tended to be the instruments of female dancers in antiquity. Are coperchi  gendered?  Given that drawing and carrying water has always been women’s work, are we looking at a female neighbourhood shrine around the well  in the second to first century BC, supplanted by a cross-roads shrine organised by males  in the Augustan period?   

Possibly this is a speculation too far, but it would be interesting to know if other teams have unpublished examples of coperchi and, if so, in what contexts.

 

 

Another comparison from the Jashemski archive.

I.12.2 and I.12.1 bakery, Via dell'Abbondanza.

1961 & 2009.

An interesting comparison, in a bakery that is normally closed to the public.
While the bright red plaster has suffered under the elements the oven behind is in a much improved state.

I.12.2 and I.12.1 Pompeii. 1961. 

Doorway to room 11 in east wall of portico.

Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski. J61f0252

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

I.12.2 and I.12.1 Pompeii. March 2009. 
Doorway to room 11 in east wall of portico.
Photo Jackie and Bob Dunn www.pompeiiinpictures.com

See more of I.12.2 on pompeiiinpictures.com

Jackie and Bob at pompeiiinpictures

News; Chi blocca la rinascita di Pompei

From L'Espresso:

Chi blocca la rinascita di Pompei
Se non si completano i lavori entro l’anno, si perdono i futuri finanziamenti europei. E su 47 cantieri previsti, 35 non sono stati neppure aperti. Mentre un’indagine della procura incombe sugli appalti.

di Paolo Fantauzzi e Francesca Sironi

Unfortunately, you will need a subscription to read the rest of this article.

 

Nine questioned in inquiry

A surprising article today in the Italian papers discussing, and naming, nine individuals questioned in connection to the reconstruction of the Large Theater in Pompeii. See the first link, here:

http://napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/03/04/news/pompei_sequestrati_beni_per_6_mln_a_ex_commissario_straordinario_scavi_napoli_italpress_-108720473/?ref=HREC1-5