Herculaneum Pompeii

This can be divided into four historical groups known as four styles. The First Style or Incrustation Style lasted until 80 B.C. and imitated the coloured marble facing. The Second Style or Architectural Style framed landscapes with architectural elements, creating an illusion of depth. The Third Style, which developed about the end of the first century B.C., abolished the prospective illusions but preserved a form of fantastic architectural decoration which was often used to frame small pictures. The Fourth Style was develo-ped about the middle of the first century A.D. It was a very varied style. It was a repetition of the Third Style developing the fantastic, with the pictures becoming smaller and smaller or disappearing altogether, and the architectural ele-ments becoming more and more fantastic and unreal. The pletora! documentation at Pompeii confirms the dividing ofartists into two groups, immaginary and mural. They were probably organized into groups formed by masters and assistants, or contractors with a group of workers, generally slaves or freedmen.