3-035-417 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Wall Fragment with a Peacock, about 1911. Based on a watercolour made by architect R.A. Briggs of a now-lost fresco in the House of Siricus at Pompeii, this fresco appears to have been part of a decorative scheme in a home designed by Briggs in Surrey, England, around 1910. In the House of Siricus, the peacock was a detail from the upper register of a room. The painting style, categorized by scholars as Fourth Style, is the last style of Roman wall painting, and combines the spatial vistas of the Second Style with the fantastic architecture of the Third Style.