Pompeii. Street Shrine at VI.4.1.
Giuseppe Fiorelli
wrote
“Un grosso
serpente larario avvicinantesi ad una mensa per divorarne le offerte,
dipinto
nell’angolo esterno di questo edifizio qual Genio tutelare della strada…………”
See Pappalardo, U., 2001. La Descrizione di Pompei per Giuseppe Fiorelli (1875). Napoli: Massa Editore. (p.53).
Pompeii Street Shrine at VI.4.1 at junction of Via Consolare and Vicolo del Farmacista. December 2006. Looking south.
No longer visible.
Pompeii Street Shrine at VI.4.1. 1822-4 painting by Paolo Fumagalli showing façade, street shrine and snake painting.
The snake painting is reversed from that of Mazois and Gell.
The painting has
the title “Vue de l'Auberge dit d'Albino à Pompeia”.
The narrative in his book though describes clearly the hospitium of Albinus at VI.17.1.
See Fumagalli P. Pompeia, trattato pittorico, storico, e
geometrico, opera disegnata negli anni 1824 al 1830, Firenze, Fumagalli, p.
37 and unnumbered picture.
Photo courtesy Thorvaldsens Museum Copenhagen. Inventory number E550,50. See photo on museum web site Use CC0 - dedicated to Public Domain
Pompeii Street Shrine at VI.4.1. 1824 painting showing
façade and shrine painting showing less remaining plaster than the painting of
Fumagalli.
Mazois painting titled Autel dans un
carrefour, et vue d'une rue.
Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC
Grant 681269 DÉCOR.
See Mazois, F.,
1824. Les Ruines de Pompei : Second
Partie. Paris : Firmin Didot. (Pla. 6, fig. 2).
![VI.4.1 Pompeii. c.1819. Lower left, drawing by William Gell of street shrine, described by him as from “House called of the Apothecary Conso”.
The sketch of the Gladiators, he said was from “Near the Gate of Nola”
See Gell W & Gandy, J.P: Pompeii published 1819 [Dessins publiés dans l'ouvrage de Sir William Gell et John P. Gandy, Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompei, 1817-1819], pl. 77.
See book in Bibliothèque de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art [France], collections Jacques Doucet Gell Dessins 1817-1819
Use Etalab Open Licence ou Etalab Licence Ouverte](Altar%2060401_files/image006.jpg)
VI.4.1 Pompeii.
c.1819. Lower left, drawing by William Gell of street shrine, described by him
as from “House called of the Apothecary Conso”.
The
sketch of the Gladiators, he said was from “Near the Gate of Nola”
See Gell W & Gandy, J.P: Pompeii published 1819 [Dessins publiés dans l'ouvrage de Sir William Gell et John P. Gandy, Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompei, 1817-1819], pl. 77.
See
book in Bibliothèque de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art [France],
collections Jacques Doucet Gell Dessins 1817-1819
Use
Etalab Open Licence ou Etalab Licence Ouverte
![VI.4.1 Pompeii. May 2006. Entrance doorway with counter.
According to Curti, in 1818, in the face of the Via Domiziana [todays Via Consolare], on the corner of a triangular insula, was found a taberna of a seplasarius [a trader in perfumes and unguents] or a pharmacist. For exhibition, he had painted a large snake that bites a pine cone. The serpent was the attribute of Hygeia, the goddess of health, and of Aesculapius: it is still the emblem of today's [1873] pharmacies. In Pompeii, as we have noted elsewhere, it was valid for other purposes, and therefore would not have been enough to fix the designation of this taberna as a pharmaceutical workshop, had it not been found inside various other medicines, chemical preparations, pots with dried medicines and pills, spatulas, and a bronze box with compartments containing drugs, and a porphyry blade to spread and smooth the poultices.
See Curti P. A., 1873. Pompei e le sue rovine: Part 2. Napoli e Milano, p. 268.
According to Della Corte, this thermopolium or workshop was always described in the old bibliographies as an “officina farmaceutica”
Why? Many chemical preparations and many jars with dried medicines and pills were found here.
As medical substances, they are unknown, however as the results have never been analysed.
The notion that it was an “officina farmaceutica”, however was, and stays, simply circumstantial.
See Della Corte, M., 1965. Case ed Abitanti di Pompei. Napoli: Fausto Fiorentino. (p.42)](Altar%2060401_files/image008.jpg)
VI.4.1 Pompeii. May 2006. Entrance doorway with counter.
According to Curti, in 1818, in the face of the Via Domiziana [todays Via Consolare], on the corner of a triangular insula, was found a taberna of a seplasarius [a trader in perfumes and unguents] or a pharmacist. For exhibition, he had painted a large snake that bites a pine cone. The serpent was the attribute of Hygeia, the goddess of health, and of Aesculapius: it is still the emblem of today's [1873] pharmacies. In Pompeii, as we have noted elsewhere, it was valid for other purposes, and therefore would not have been enough to fix the designation of this taberna as a pharmaceutical workshop, had it not been found inside various other medicines, chemical preparations, pots with dried medicines and pills, spatulas, and a bronze box with compartments containing drugs, and a porphyry blade to spread and smooth the poultices.
See Curti P. A., 1873. Pompei e le sue rovine: Part 2. Napoli e Milano, p. 268.
According to Della Corte, this thermopolium or workshop was always described in the old bibliographies as an “officina farmaceutica”
Why? Many chemical preparations and many jars with dried medicines and pills were found here.
As medical substances, they are unknown, however as the results have never been analysed.
The notion that it was an “officina farmaceutica”, however was, and stays, simply circumstantial.
See Della Corte, M., 1965. Case ed Abitanti di Pompei. Napoli: Fausto Fiorentino. (p.42)
Left hand wall of VI.4.1, site of street shrine with serpent painting. December 2006.
The painting of the serpent is no longer visible.
Left hand wall of VI.4.1, site of street shrine.
Detail from 1822-4 drawing by Paolo Fumagalli of the serpent painting, which is no longer visible.
Left hand wall of VI.4.1, site of street shrine.
Detail from 1824 drawing by Mazois of the serpent painting, which is no longer visible.
The serpent is approaching an altar on which is an offering of fruit.
Left hand wall of VI.4.1 site of street shrine. December 2006. No longer visible.
Right hand wall of VI.4.1. December 2006.