Pompeii's Fresco ‘Punishment of Ixion’

This essay is about the fresco ‘Punishment of Ixion’, but to understand this painting, historical background of it and the region in which this painting was located should be stated. In this regard, to explain, Pompeii was an ancient intellectual city near Naples in the Campania area of Italy. At those times, it is a Roman city and is really developed, so society is in tremendous abundance and richness. In this regard, Pompeii was a wealthy city and had many villas in the surrounding area. However, in AD 79, after the eruption of the volcano of Vesuvius, earthquake and rain of volcanic ash broke out, so this city was buried by volcanic ash. In addition, volcanic ash buried many people who did not escape from the signal of the eruption. Moreover, this city with its society was well preserved under volcanic ash, so this city gives unique information about the lifestyle in Pompeii. There are many objects preserved by the ash like human bodies and architectural ornament and forms. There were many paintings and frescos being made on the walls. The House of Vettii is a significant example of a place which includes precious paintings of Pompeii. This house took its name from the owners of itself, so they are Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus. The House of the Vettii is in the region that is near the Vesuvian Gate. In addition, this house was bordered by the Vicolo di Mercurio and the Vicolo dei Vettii.

In this regard, even though there are many paintings in the House of the Vettii, the Ixion room in the House of the Vettii has incredibly more precious paintings, so Ixion room can be considered as a picture gallery. This is because all side of the room has different paintings which include human figures and fake architectural forms like panel and dado. In this regard, there is no liberal use of space, so whole walls are covered with paintings. Also, there is a pattern like wallpaper because it is seen that there is an extension of painting from the ceiling to the walls in the room of Ixion. In this respect, the painting ‘Punishment of Ixion’ is one of the most famous pieces. This painting was located in Ixion room and made after 62 AD. The technique of this aesthetic peace is fresco painting and is on the central panel of the wall. In the archeology literature, this fresco included to the fourth style of Roman painting. Moreover, on the wall which includes the painting ‘Punishment of Ixion’ has fake architectural forms made with painting, so it is seen that painter wanted to imitate the architecture. In this wall painting, there are some interspaces and theses interspaces are occupied by windows like architectural forms and these windows seem to be open, so they seem to be illusionistic and realistic. There is also an open wall technique. The architectural framework in this wall painting is also seen in the third style of Roman painting, so this situation demonstrates that this painting is also eclectic and it means that this takes concept and ways from the past painting styles. There are also pale blue parapets which are crowned with different figures. These figures seem to be of a sea battle. Furthermore, there is Dado on the below of the wall painting and it imitates marbles which are colored with yellowish, bluish and pinkish. Also, Dado is flat and decorative. Except for the painting 'Punishment of Ixion', when it is looked from the general perspective, it is seen that there are five human figures. Three of them are on the above and two of them are on the left and right side of the central panel, and these figures seem to have high quality in terms of detail and coloring like shading. In addition, there are exquisite ornamental details on the columns and borders. There is no predominant color, so there is polychromy, like the third style.

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When we focus on the main picture which is the fresco 'Punishment of Ixion' in this wall painting, it is seen that there is an original mythological story. In this respect, it demonstrates the suffering of Ixion. Ixion had tried to win the love of Hera who was Zeus's wife. To prevent this, Zeus created a cloud whose name was Nephele to resemble Hera and thanks to her, Ixion became the father of centaurs. To punish the Ixion for his crime. Zeus sent him to the under the world and in there, Ixion was punished by being hanged to a wheel that turned evermore. Furthermore, to explain the composition of this painting, it indicates that Hera sits on a throne on the right side and she has a stick in her hand. She wore a thin veil whose color consists of Brown and White, and there is also a golden crown on her head. Behind her, there is a woman named Iris making gestures and Iris, extended her arm to Ixion's punishment. Hera seem to watch the scene of punishment., and Iris wore a bluish veil. Also, there is a wrapped woman sitting in front of Hera and she covered herself with a yellow veil. This wrapped woman is pleading for Ixion. In the far left of the painting, there is a man who tied to the wooden wheel, so this man is Ixion. In the behind of the wheel, a man who was turning the wheel is the god Hephaestus who was the son of Zeus. In the left side of the Wheel, there is the god Hermes and he is delivering the sentence to Ixion. At the same time, he looked at Hera too. Hermes seems to be emphasized in this painting because he is the only figure which is fully naked in this painting and seems to be incredibly realistic and detailed, so at first glance, the god Hermes draw the attention. Also, he has golden scepter which is called caduceus on his left hand. It is seen that he is a muscular man because the muscular system of Hermes is emphasized with the help of using light and shading. Moreover, he has a necklace which is bluish and it is also detailed.

It is seen that Punishment of Ixion is on the red central panel and it reflect the mythological composition too. On the background of this painting, there are architectural forms, so this means there is scenography. However, on the left side of the background, there is empty space which is colored with white, but this empty space cannot be understood whether it is a wall or just space. If we regard this as an empty space, this harm this painting's being realistic because in nature just empty scene is impossible. Furthermore, the figures seem to be really realistic. This is because there is the use of shading and lighting to give volume to the figures. For instance, there is not sharp outline to show the muscles of Hermes, but there is also shading and lighting that was made with the different tone of relevant color, so these techniques provide the painting with volume. In addition, shading and volume are seen in the clothes, so it gives detailed form to the painting. The existence of polychrome can be considered for Punishment of Ixion because there are uses of brown yellow red white black and blueish color and it demonstrates there is the use of natural color. There is statuesque looking in Hermes. In addition, there is also superposition in the figures. Furthermore, there is a good perspective. Size of the figures is appropriate for the natural size of a human. For example, as Hermes is in the ahead, he seems to be bigger than Hephaestus, so it means that Hephaestus is far away from Hermes. In this way, this painting seems to have three dimensional and depth. In addition, there is skiagraphy because the figures have a shadow on the ground line whose color is brownish. When we focus on the motion of the figures, it is seen that there is foreshortening. This is because there is a decrease in the size of the limb from the near to the far side. For instance, there is foreshortening in the arm and leg of Hermes and arm of Hera. Hermes seems to possess the movement of the body, so it provides him with a perfect and aesthetic body shape. Moreover, it is seen that there is aerial perspective partially because figure seem to be blur backwards.

As a result, the fresco ‘Punishment of Ixion’ has big significance because it is located in Pompeii which was destructed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and it reflects the belief of the society about the mythology and lifestyle. In addition, this painting is a crucial example of forth style Roman painting because it is eclectic, so this consist of the previous style. For instance, there are fake architectural forms like previous styles. Also, there is therefore, this painting is really significant to make research, so the topic of this essay is 'Punishment of Ixion'.