seen from the principal entrance of the house. The general colour is
white. Dado red and yellow. The three central compartments are copied
from the House of the Augustals, or banqueting house commonly known by
the name of the _Pantheon_. Beneath, a high canopy, supported by thin
and gracefully ornamented columns, stands a lovely female with one foot
upon the step of a door. She is in the act of playing the lyre, holding
the plectrum with her right hand, and by her song seems to invite
strangers to enter the portal. Upon the architrave of this porch is a
yellow group of a Winged Victory in a biga driving at full speed,
engraved in Zahn, vol. i., pl. 24. The left-hand figure is a priestess
with a _prefericulum_, or small pitcher used for sacrifices, in her
right hand, and a bunch of corn and poppies in the other. Her hair is
bound by a yellow circlet, and the upper garment or mantle is remarkably
similar to that in the dress of the celebrated Flora of the Capitol.
(See Catalogue of Greek Court, No. 41.) The lower dress is blue and
partly covering her yellow shoes. The architecture, seen through the
portal of the hall which the priestess seems to be leaving, is admirably
painted. The companion picture on the opposite side, is a young man in
purple drapery, turned towards the fair lyrist, and seeming to offer a
green wreath. The first two of these figures are engraved in the Museo
Bor., vol. iii., tavole 5 and 6. The second one also in Malkin’s
Pompeii, vol. ii., p. 315.
In the dado, beneath the figures just described, are large square stalls
or recesses. In the centre one is an elegant figure of a girl holding a
lyre, she seems to be sitting on the sill or edge of the opening. This
figure is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 12., and in Raoul
Rochette, Choix de Peintures, pl. 4; Zahn, vol. ii., pl. 77. Gell gives
it in his second series of Pompeiana, vol. i., pl. 14, but surrounded by
different groups to the original, although all are to be found within
the same building. The group beyond forms a graceful heading to the view
from the atrium looking through the right hand fauces, No. 11. It
consists of two figures, a Victory with expanded wings holding an
incense-burner in her right hand, and a patera in the left. She is
crowned with laurel, the leaves of which stand like rays about the head.
Behind and above her appears a goddess with a sceptre and tiara, either
Venus or Juno, more probably the former; she is in the act of putting
some incense into the burner held by the other figure. The patera with
offerings like purple fruit on it, has been converted by Gell and Zahn
into a painter’s palette and brushes; in the Mus. Bor. the Victory wears
sandals; but in Zahn and Gell more correctly only ankle rings. The play
of line in this group is very pleasing. This group is taken from the
portico of the same building as the other figures, viz., the House of
the Augustals, commonly called the Pantheon. The ground of the original
is black, here it is rich red. Engraved in Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 19;
Gell, vol. i., vignette heading to preface; Zahn, vol. i., pl. 2.