Roman painting of the more prosperous times remains only on mural decorations, and it is easy to form an idea of what the easel paintings and those in the technical art of encaustic were like. If one may be permitted to form a conception by the reproductions of paintings large and small in fresco on the walls, by portraits like the mummies of Faijum, and if the Muse of were not a mere Renaissance imitation, it is certain that Roman art was not less advanced than Hellenic art. But it was just this resemblance to Hellenic art which deprived the Roman paintings of originality, unless it be that the works of a na tional art parallel with that of historic sculp ture have been lost.
Decorative painting may be studied in the few examples that have survived in Rome (tbe house of Livia, the auditorium of MaTenas, the thermae of Titus), and in the much-visited examples in the houses of Pompeii, but they are provincial art. Similarly with painting, mosaic and stucco decoration developed (as in the so called Farnesina house, the tombs of the Latin Way, etc.). Besides this, the artists of the Renaissance preserved sketches and designs of mural paintings, since destroyed, and it was from this art that the school of Raphael drew inspiration in its Qgrottesche.° It has been possible to reconstruct the historical development of this Roman art. The works of the first period resembled marble de signs; the second period developed an architec tural style with effects of perspective; the third, a richer style with portraits interspersed; the fourth was ornamental and overladen with fantastic architecture, with scenes painted ac cording to nature, alternating with copies of the most celebrated antique painting, sometimes most archaic. The prototypes of this pictorial decoration of the Hellenic epoch exist, or may be sought, in the islands of the 2Egean Sea, in Asia Minor and Alexandria.
Mosaic and the opus sectile, or colored mar ble inlaid work, were also of Oriental origin. In the most ancient mosaics with large tiles or stones and few colors, the motives are simple; divided into mythological figures, animals and fishes. Then there were represented, in a greater variety of colors, fishes and other ani mals, little tables covered with the remains of the meal, until with a more refined technique (opus vermicitiatum) they made regular and true pictures, hunting scenes, as in the great mosaics of Preneste, and gladiatorial scenes, as in the mosaics of the Therms; of Caracalla, and contests in the arena, etc.. and even such
elaborate pictures as the battle of the Isms, found in the house of the Satyr (Faun) at Pompeii, and now in the Naples Museum.
In industrial arts the Romans, especially in the provinces, obtained fresh results. In the history of Italian ceramics, the production of types aenvea trom tne Lireeic ceased wan tne Calenian manufactories, and in Etruria arose the manufacture of vases and the plastic orna mental work of then the delicate cups of Arretium, made of the finest clay, sometimes silvered and gilt in the work of the Alexan drian The names of these manufac turers are known: The celebrated Canuleius, Gabinius and Attilius and Popilius Attius, and it is supposed that these vessels were not imi tated directly from the gold and silver vases, but from cups in relief of Megara. The glass industry, which throve principally in Cisalpine Gaul, blown and colored, or turned on a wheel in the style of glyptics as in the nturrine cups, and the rasa d7atreta, or even in the style of cameos, little by little supplanted terra-cotta for table use. Also the vessels made of precious metal kept alive the traditions of Alexandrian art, and we have an example of it in the rich silver furniture of Boscoreale.
In glyptics, the Romans continued the tra ditions of Greece and especially the Hellenistic traditions in the great historical cameos. In the art of working in gold they remained in ferior to the Etruscans, although they sur passed them in artistic designs inspired by Greek models.
What the art of the cabinet maker was able to produce in Roman times is found in the scarce specimens of furniture, inlaid with ebony and ivory, and encrusted with metal and precious stones, engraved or in relief. It is worth while here to recall the beds (in the Palazzo dei Conservatori at Rome, iti the museum at Naples, and in the Kircherian Museum), the litters (in the palace of the Con servatori), the tensa Capitols's°, and the ivory beds of Ancona.
The weapons of war also present rich deco rations, especially those for parade, the Impe rial arms (the sword of Tiberius), or the glad iatorial weapons (Naples).