Venus under the Ashes

Amedeo Maiuri, director of the National Museum at Naples, was taking a short vacation seven weeks ago when he got an electrifying phone call from one of his archeologists at nearby Pompeii: "We're uncovering the best-preserved Roman painting ever!" Maiuri hurried over, and sure enough, there was something to make him dig hard. Peering over a layer of volcanic gravel were the head and shoulders of a beautiful woman.

Archeologist Maiuri's men cleared away the rest of the gravel. There, astonishingly preserved, was a 7-ft. mural of Venus reclining on a sea shell, attended by cupids. Unlike most Pompeian paintings, which have been dimmed and reddened by ash, rain and time, the mural had kept most of its original luster: deep sky-blues, rosy flesh tints, bright gold for the ornaments, rich brown for Venus' hair.

The style was just as interesting. Most art historians have put the antique Roman painters down as stiff copyists of the Greeks. But the Pompeian Venus has an easy flow of line, more than a small touch of expressionism--as if the Pompeians had begun to develop a style of their own just before the destruction. Maiuri placed it as the work of an unknown artist for the home of a wealthy Pompeian gentleman some time between the earthquake of 63 A.D. and the searing eruption of Vesuvius 16 years later. The absorbent qualities of the porous volcanic gravel at that spot had kept the mural moisture-proof for more than 1,800 years.

At Pompeii this week, Archeologist Maiuri unveiled his new Venus for 47 experts from 20 countries, who were there to dedicate an auditorium for the Pompeian Archeological Center. Until they had a chance to study her bright colors and billowing lines, he brushed off photographers eager to take careful pictures. "It's enough for now," he chuckled, "to say that she is the prototype of a Neapolitan beauty--florid, fleshy, luscious. In short, what you Anglo-Saxons would call a girl with sex appeal."

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