Painting
Frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries
Anonymous (Roman), c. 60 BC
Show the style
Classical · chronological order 2
Where to see it
Villa of the Mysteries
Pompeii · Italy
A cycle of fresco wall paintings from around 60 BC, almost intact in a side room of a suburban villa at Pompeii. The 29 life-size figures, set against an intense “Pompeian red”, probably show an initiation into the mysteries of Dionysus: a bride, satyrs, maenads and the god himself. What exactly it means is still argued over.