Gardenscape, Villa of Livia

The Gardenscape at Villa of Livia in Primaporta, Italy (Livia was the wife of Emperor Augustus) decorates a vaulted, partially subterranean chamber of the villa. The dry fresco is done in the second style of Roman art and depicts an ideal garden scene. The second style describes the artist's attempt to dissolve a room's confining walls and replace them with the illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world. This can be seen in the artist's lack …

…the artist's use of cool blue and green hues, which are in sharp contrast to the vibrant red used in Pompeiian paintings. These colors complement the idyllic landscape and enhance its simplicity. There is also a texture to the painting with its varied brust strokes that gives a sense of the natural surfaces, such as in the fence or the plants. All of these devices contribute to the overall effect of bringing the outdoors in.