In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Window on the Ancient Palette

Abstract

When the gods that govern Vesuvius's moods decided to go on a destructive rampage in 79 CE, they ironically created a gift package that will keep on giving to civilization well into the future. Pompeii's slumber for 1700 years preserved a microcosm of Greco-Roman civilization that would have disappeared forever. Now open for study, the exquisitely preserved Pompeian frescoes have yielded up exciting secrets, including information on the temperature range of the eruptive event. On the cultural level, they have inspired many works of art, literature and film. Based on their examination, scientists and art historians are collaboratively re-writing a history that impacts how we integrate the fundamental relationship between art and reality within a broader cultural context. Had Pompeii's enforced entombment never happened, our knowledge of this period of art history would be far more partial and incomplete.