Day 59 - Boscotrecase fresco of Polyphemus and Galatea





June 20, 2018

 Gallery 166 is devoted to art of the Augustan age. Many objects appeal to me. There's an extraordinary bowl composed of four quarter-circles of purple, blue, yellow, and clear glass, each topped with a millefiori garland, that have been fused together; it's so beautiful that it makes me exclaim out loud. There's a charming bronze statue of a young boy serving as an acolyte at religious ceremonies. And there are a couple of small amulets carved on the exterior to resemble walnuts while on their interiors, couples making love are shown. In one, the woman sits on a chair, her legs thrown around the man, while in the other, he is kneeling before her and her legs are hoisted over his shoulders as he penetrates her.  Carrying such objects around must have  made their owners feel a bit risqué. 

 The work I want to write about today is a fresco from a bedroom of the Villa Boscotrecase, located near Boscoreale and also buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D. (It seems absurd to affix the "C.E." label to a well-known date.)  I am happy to see that while the Met acquired parts of three of the villa's rooms, the Archaeological Museum in Naples got the rest. The villa was built by Marcus Agrippa, Augustus' friend and son-in-law, and inherited by Agrippa's son, who redecorated it in about 10 B.C.E.

 The fresco presents two scenes related to the myth of Polyphemus. In the lower part, it shows Polyphemus and his would-be love, Galatea; above that, Polyphemus hurls a rock down on a boat. It's the Polyphemus-Galatea scene that I find arresting and poignant. Against a green background representing, I suppose, the sea,  Polyphemus sits on a rocky outcropping on his island; beside him is his shepherd's staff, and he holds what appear to be the pipes of Pan. He is  nude, and his skin is, tellingly, brown. His single eye is a dent in the middle of his forehead, his nose is no more than a button in his round face, and the corners of his mouth are turned down. He looks sad as he gazes longingly at Galatea, who is sitting on another rock (she's a sea nymph). She, in contrast, is depicted as a slender, fair-skinned woman clad in a diaphanous top and  billowing gold skirt and holding a cloak over her head. She seems utterly unaware of Polyphemus' existence, much less his feelings for her. I am not sure I would want such an image of unrequited love adorning my bedroom. On the other hand, I am charmed by the liveliness and realism with which the goats Polyphemus is guarding are painted. 

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