Dioscorides, of Samos, as the artist; thus:
ΔΙΟΣΚΟΥΡΙΔΗΣ ΣΑΜΙΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΗΣΕ.
There is great diversity of opinion amongst antiquarians as to the
meaning of some of the most important pictures discovered at Pompeii and
Herculaneum, which might have been obviated had the names of the
characters been written upon them, as we see upon the ancient Greek
vases, and upon the paintings of Polygnotus, and the chest of Cypselus,
described by Pausanias, and, to descend to later and very different
times, the well-known Bayeux tapestry, illustrating the history of
William the Conqueror. In default of inscription, the Pompeian pictures
can only be interpreted by their similarity to the descriptions of other
ancient paintings left us by Pausanias, Lucian, Ælian, and Philostratus.
The following extract from Vitruvius, book vii., chap. 5, affords a most
important view of what innovations took place in his time, showing also,
that even before the time of Augustus, mural decorations were composed
of extensive architectural fancies, as well as harbours, landscapes, and
sea-pieces.
EXTRACT FROM VITRUVIUS.