Step into a stunning painted garden that gives insight into the flora and fauna of ancient Rome.
Painted Garden, Villa of Livia, fresco, 30-20 B.C.E. (Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo, Rome)
The plant species depicted include: umbrella pine, oak, red fir, quince, pomegranate, myrtle, oleander, date palm, strawberry, laurel, viburnum, holm oak, boxwood, cypress, ivy, acanthus, rose, poppy, chrysanthemum, chamomile, fern, violet, and iris.
Additional resources:
Marina Piranomonte, “The Villa of Livia on the Via Flaminia and Its Restoration at the Bimillenarius of Augustus (2014),” in Augustus: From Republic to Empire, edited by Grażyna Bąkowska-Czerner and Jarosław Bodzek (Summertown: Archaeopress, 2017), pp. 107–28.
Roman Painting on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Linda Farrar, Ancient Roman Gardens (Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1998).
Roger Ling, Roman Painting (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
Donatella Mazzoleni and Umberto Pappalardo, Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House (Los Angeles: Getty Trust Publications, 2005).
Umberto Pappalardo, The Splendor of Roman Wall Painting (Los Angeles: Getty Trust Publications, 2009).
Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:
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