Kolor i przestrzeń w malarstwie pompejańskim

Abstract

Chosen examples of the Pompeian paintings prove, that many ancient artists consciously used colour to create depth. Author analyses chiaroscuro, mythological scenes and landscapes with colour perspective, also called air perspective. Warm and dark colours are used to depict close objects, cold and bright ones to show illusion of depth. Term „air perspective’’ suggests, that such vision is being influenced by air masses between an object and an observer. In the Pompeian painting these rules are not used consequently. Linear perspective or different colours of females and males bodies also have influence on the space. Still, it’s worth to pay attention to innovativeness of ancient artists.