Villa of Agrippa Postumus

History

It is commonly accepted that the villa itself was built between 21 and 16 BC. The excavation of the villa uncovered a roof tile inscribed "Papillus Agrippae Tuberi Fabio consulibus." It is from this tile that 11 BC. is commonly accepted as the date of the cubicula's decorations since Tuberones and Fabius, two of the names inscribed on this tile, were consuls in 11 BC. The question surrounding the paintings, however, is who commissioned them since Agrippa, the supposed builder and owner of the villa, died in 12 BC, leaving the villa to his infant son, Agrippa Postumus. Some scholars such as Umberto Pappalardo argue that Julia would have been in charge of the villa after her husband's death since as an infant Agrippa Postumus could not take on the responsibilities of maintaining the villa as Agrippa's heir. The inscription "Caesaris Augusti femina mater erat" carved on a column shaft alludes to Julia. Many aristocratic women owned and managed villa properties in the Bay of Naples, so it would not have been uncommon for Julia to be the villa's proprietor when her son was not of age. While Julia is often seen as the patron of the cubicula's paintings, Elfriede Knauer presents the possibility that Agrippa commissioned the rooms’ decorations while he was governing in the eastern Roman provinces.

Augustus is also often associated with having control over and ownership of the villa. When Agrippa died, Augustus became the owner of many of Agrippa's properties. Augustus's will also supports the claim that he had some ownership of the villa. Augustus's will stated that he would give any inheritances he received from any man to the child of the deceased if they were of age. If the child was not of age, Augustus would hold onto the property until the child finally reached adulthood or got married. Similarly, Dio discusses Agrippa Postumus's anger at Augustus for not giving him his rightful inheritance as Agrippa's son and heir, which would have included the villa at Boscotrecase. …

Frescoes

In 1922, archaeologist Matteo Della Corte published a report about the villa including a partial floor plan. The residential area of the villa was designated to the left, oriented around the central peristyle. The slaves, horses, and farming equipment were on the right side in a separate court. A tile in the slave quarters dates it to 2 BC, the year of Julia's exile and when an overseer would have taken over the villa from the imperial family.

The surviving frescoes come from four cubicula along the villa's southern hallway around the villa's central peristyle, where social and business activities occurred. The paintings are from cubiculum 15, 16, and 19, also known as the Black Room, the Red Room, and the Mythological Room, respectively, for the paintings that were in those specific rooms. A few panels were also excavated from cubiculum 20, or the White Room.

It is speculated that the Black Room and the Red Room possibly served as triclinia, or dining rooms. The Mythological Room and the White Room were most likely cubicula, which served as places for rest. Artifacts found around the Black Room suggest that a later owner utilized it for agrarian purposes, most likely as a storage room. The proximity of the room to the terrace, which connected the residential area to the slave quarters, would have made it ideal for storage.

The villa's frescoes fall into the Pompeian Third Style of wall-paintings which were created during the imperial rule of Augustus. Key characteristics of the Third Style found in the villa were Egyptian imagery, mythological scenery, and intricate ornamentation.

The materials of the rooms explain the gap between when the villa was built and when the cubicula were decorated. The walls were made of soluble sand- and marble-dust plaster, which meant that paint could be applied anytime after the final layer of plaster was applied as long as the plaster remained slightly damp. …

Discovery

This large villa was accidentally discovered during the construction of the Circumvesuviana railway line in 1903. The landowner, Cavaliere Ernesto Santini, excavated the villa with the help of the Italian archaeologist, Matteo Della Corte, from 1903 to 1905. However, an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in April 1906, reburied the villa, preventing a complete excavation of the villa.