FRESCO FROM POMPEII, BEFORE 79 CE. THE BRITISH MUSEUM
This fresco, detached from its unknown original site in the early C19 during the early and highly unscientific excavations of Pompeii, was part of the collection of the duke of Blacas before it was sold to the BM in 1867. Here we see a faded but graceful scene set in an atrium, as we can deduce from the column at centre right. Two lovers are sitting on a sort of loveseat with spindle legs and armrests. Both are wearing wreath crowns. The man, at left, is wearing only a white drapery covering his thighs. He's sitting with his arm around a lovely girl in a white dress with a mauve mantle who is plucking at a kithara, a type of lyre. Separate from them on the other side of the column is a standing woman leaning on a rectangular pedestal, with one hand behind her back and her right leg crossed over her left. She's wearing a pale pink dress and is shown in profile. Is she watching to make sure nothing naughty happens?
Makes no difference what you say / you're still a lyre. Another #fresco for #FrescoFriday, this one from the #BritishMuseum but originally from #Pompeii, with a beautiful girl playing a #kithara in an atrium, as her adoring lover sits next to her and a standing woman looks on. #AncientBluesky 🏺