Otium Ludens. Ancient Frescoes of Stabiae

On 7 December 2007, in the Bosphorus Halls a new exhibition organized by the State Hermitage Museum in conjunction with the Restoring Ancient Stabia Foundation and the Pompeii Archaeological Office and Campania Region. The current exhibition is the first to present before a Russian audience archaeological finds from the cities destroyed in Campania. The exhibition includes over 170 items (besides frescoes there are items made from ceramic, bronze, and stucco reliefs), several of which were comparatively recently found by Italian archeologists.

The main part of the exposition consists of ancient frescoes which adorned Roman seaside villas and buildings in Stabiae, a city located not far from Pompeii. This was a famous resort in ancient times, where the Roman elite constructed buildings of unusual magnificence and taste. For more than 100 years, in the period of the late republic and early empire this was essentially the summer residence for the Roman government until in 79 A.D. Stabia was buried beneath Vesuvius' lava.

The exhibition includes three out of four frescoes in the Pompeian style.

The architectural style has been confirmed to date to approximately 80 B.C. in frescoes which depict architectural features. Another style was widespread under Augustus (30 B.C. - 14 A.D.), when masters turned to the classical legacy of Greece. In the second half of the first century under the reigns of Claudius and Nero, yet another style of decorative paintings appeared, which combined compositional perspective of architectural styles with ornamental veining.

Apart from frescoes the exhibition includes items from ceramic, bronze and also stucco reliefs.

The exhibition has been timed for the completion of the restoration of the Bosphorus Halls, initially decorated in the Pompeian style in the middle of the 19th century to the architectural designs of Leo von Klenze. In 2007 the interior was returned to its historical appearance.

The State Hermitage Museum Publishing House has prepared illustrated booklets, with articles written by the exhibition curator Ànna Trofimova, the director for the Department of the Art and Culture of Antiquity and Yana Pertrova, an assistant at the Department of the Art and Culture of Antiquity.

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Marco Di Lello, Councillor for Tourism and Cultural Heritage of Region of Campania

Ferdinando Spagnolo, Managing Director-Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation

At the exhibition

Booklet of the exhibition

Booklet of the exhibition