Cubiculum (bedroom) from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreal

A small room whose walls are covered in painted architectural fantasies: slender columns, red and yellow panels, and framed views of buildings and gardens beyond a central grid-barred window. The floor is pale stone edged with dark bands. The painting imitates a richer space opening onto the outdoors.

Look closer: Small framed landscape vignettes with tiny buildings appear within the side panels of the wall.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 50–40 BCE

Medium

Fresco

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3855 × 3713 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1903