Fresco: Did you mean...?

Frescoes are the source of some of the most striking imagery handed down to us from the Minoan civilization of Bronze Age Crete (2000-1500 BCE). Further, without written records, they are often the only source, along with decorated pottery...

Fresco depicting two Lares (protective deities, sons of the god Mercury) pouring wine from a drinking horn (rhyton) into a bucket (situla). They stand on either side of a scene of sacrifice. The head of the family makes offerings, a musician...

A fresco detail from a banquet scene (known as 'La Parisienne') from Knossos, 1400-1350 BCE. The figure, in a robe and with a sacral knot at her neck, is perhaps a priestess. (Archaeological Museum, Heraklion)

A detail of the 1st century BCE fresco which decorated the dining room (triclinium) of the Villa of the Farnesina in Rome. The long frieze depicts judicial scenes, perhaps famous cases and the events which led to the trial. (Palazzo Massimo...

Fresco depicting the myth of Narcissus, in the House of Octavius Quartio at Pompeii.

The Monkey Fresco from Room B6 in Akrotiri on the Aegean island of Thera (Santorini), c. 17th century BCE. The monkeys are climbing rocks in an effort to escape dogs which are chasing them. (Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Santorini)

The Papyrus Fresco from the Room of the Ladies from the house of the same name, Akrotiri, Thera. Papyrus is not indigineous to Thera and therefore suggests that the Cycladic artists were borrowing iconography from elsewhere, perhaps Egypt...

Fresco from the Palazzo Sclafani (Palermo), c. 1446 CE, now in the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia.

The interiors of Roman buildings of all description were very frequently sumptuously decorated using bold colours and designs. Wall paintings, fresco and the use of stucco to create relief effects were all commonly used by the 1st century...

Fourth Style fresco depicting a riot that broke out in Pompeii in 59 CE during games held in the arena involving Pompeians and inhabitants of Nuceria. On the orders of Nero, this event led to the closure of the amphitheatre for ten years...