Fresco Fragment: Woman on a Balcony

A young woman stands looking out from a balcony on this Roman fresco fragment. She wears a loose-fitting, sleeved tunic, cinched at the waist, along with a sakkos (cap), which matches the tunic’s light green color. She sips from a shallow cup held in her right hand, and balances an oinochoe (pitcher) on the railing of a balcony. The figure stands within an illusionistic architectural setting. Broad bands of black and red frame the scene at the left, and additional bands of color can be seen below the balcony. It seems at first as though the artist neglected to depict the figure's legs behind the railing; however, some brushstrokes in the appropriate interstices may suggest that her lower body was once depicted but has almost entirely vanished.

This fresco is only a small fragment from an entire wall of painted decoration that included other framed scenes. The color scheme used on the panel associates it with the so-called Second Style of Roman wall painting, a style popular in the first century A.D. that used illusionistic architecture to create a three-dimensional effect. The subject is appropriate for a triclinium, the dining room of an ancient Roman home. However, the identity of the woman remains uncertain.