The ruins of Pompeii : a series of eighteen photographic views : with an account of the destruction of the city, and a description of the most interesting remains . o; but comfort is a relative term, and in such cases dependsvery much upon climate and habits of life. In the warm sunny weather,which in southern Italy prevails during the greater part of the year, thatopen, airy, cheerftd space, rendered still more refreshing by the sight andsound of water thrown from the fountains, and by the aspect and fragranceof beds of the choicest flowers, must have been in the highest degree de-lightful. T
The ruins of Pompeii : a series of eighteen photographic views : with an account of the destruction of the city, and a description of the most interesting remains . o; but comfort is a relative term, and in such cases dependsvery much upon climate and habits of life. In the warm sunny weather,which in southern Italy prevails during the greater part of the year, thatopen, airy, cheerftd space, rendered still more refreshing by the sight andsound of water thrown from the fountains, and by the aspect and fragranceof beds of the choicest flowers, must have been in the highest degree de-lightful. Those spacious, shady porticoes formed an in-door promenade,sheltered both from rain and sun, and might even serve for a sort of supple-mentary apartments. To be shut up diu-ing a few wintry days in smallrooms, yet on that accoimt all the more capable of being easily warmed, wasa small price to pay for such enjoyments. The aspect of the interior of a first-class house is well conveyed by thephotographic view already given of that of Cornelius Rufus (see above,p. 74), and will be further illustrated by that annexed, represeutmg the HOUSE OF HOLCONIUS. -=S3Jg?j. THE RUINS OF POMPEII. 79 peristyle of the house of Holconius. This house is among the more recentexcavations, having been finally cleared in 1861, though some of the shopsat its sides were discovered at a very early period. It stands at the cornerof the Street of the Holconii and that of the Theatres, its principal entrancebeing in the former. As we can give no ground-plan of the house, it would be wearisome toenter into a detaU of all its parts, and we shall therefore confine ourselves tothose adjacent to the peristyle. The tablinum stood just in front of thecolumns seen in the foreground of the view. It affords a normal example ofthat apartment, bemg entirely open towards the atrium, but capable of beingshut on the side towards the peristyle by sliding doors of wood, of the jambsof which remains may still be seen fixed t
Size: 1339px × 1866px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordyerthomashenry180418, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860
