2-750-436 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ceiling decoration in Nero's Domus Aurea, Rome, Italy, (1928). '3rd Quarter of 1st Century A.D...Part view of the ceiling of a passage in the Golden House of Nero (54-68 A.D.) We see here squares arranged in parallel rows with white birds alternating with winged creatures (birds, sphinxes, griffins) and quadrupeds (panthers, centaurs)...It is impossible to over-estimate the effect of the wall decorations of the Neronic house. Not only did numerous Renaissance artists seek and find inspiration there, but also Medieval decorations...are hardly comprehensible without such antique models'. Plate XXXVII, fig 85, from "An Encyclopaedia of Colour Decoration from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the XIXth Century" with explanatory text by Helmuth Bossert. [Ernst Wasmuth Ltd., Berlin, 1928]