Sappho Fresco

Sappho Fresco
Alternately: Portrait of a Young Woman with Stylus, Italian: Saffo
Year	c. 50 – c. 79 AD
Medium	Fresco
Movement	Fourth Pompeiian Style
Subject	A young educated woman with stylus, popularised as an icon of Sappho
Dimensions	37 cm× 38 cm(15 in× 15 in)
Location	National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Naples, Italy
Accession	9084

The Sappho Fresco or Portrait of a Young Woman with Stylus is a fresco dating to the 1st century from the city of Pompeii, which was buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Ascribed to the Fourth Style of Pompeiian painting, it was recovered on 17 May 1760. Currently displayed at the National Archaeological Museum, Naples, alongside the Portrait of Terentius Neo, it is among many examples from Pompeii demonstrating the autonomy of women in ancient Rome. ^[1]

The portrait was speculatively identified with the Greek poet Sappho in the nineteenth century, though no corroborating evidence for this suggestion exists. Most modern scholars treat it as a portrait of an educated, upper-class Pompeiian woman, though it has also been conjectured to be a representation of the Roman poet Sulpicia. The fresco was an important influence on the Chinese poet Shao Xunmei, who was inspired to take up poetry after seeing it on a visit to Naples in the early 1920s, and may also have influenced the American performer Eva Palmer-Sikelianos.

Description

The fresco is dated to the third quarter of the 1st century AD. ^{[2] [1] [a]} It depicts a woman holding the type of writing tablet and stylus used by Romans during the 1st century AD, and her clothing and hairstyle closely reflect mid-century fashions. ^{[4] [1]} The subject's attire includes a golden hairnet and large golden earrings. ^[5] The hairnet, and her tightly curled hairstyle, were both characteristic of fashion under the reign of Nero (r. 54–68) and the early Flavian period that followed. ^[6]

She rests the tip of her stylus on her lips, as if in the act of considering what to write next. The archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri describes the painting as "almost academically formal", and the subject's appearance as "refreshingly schoolgirlish". ^[7] The subject embodies the literary and artistic trope of the docta puella ("learned girl"). Writing tablets were often used in Pompeiian portraits as symbols of literacy; only about 15% of the Roman population was literate at the time, and images of the docta puella type were used by wealthy families to indicate their education and corresponding social status. ^[4] According to Mauri, the subject's delicate features and tranquil gaze were intended to convey aristocratic breeding, while the writing implements serve as "but a pretext for a high-romantic pose". ^[7] The art historian Roger Ling similarly considers the portrait likely to be a generic representation: a "rather bland form of classicising beauty" similar to idealised portrait busts of women from earlier periods. ^[6]

Depictions of women with writing tablets (sometimes in contexts that suggest commercial record-keeping) along with records of female landowners in Pompeii, suggest that women held roles in business and the arts. ^{[1] [5]} The classicist Renate Johne has used images of this type to argue that women played an important role as readers, and perhaps as pseudonymous authors, of ancient novels. ^[8]

Subject

The portrait of a young man originally displayed alongside the fresco

During the 19th century, scholars speculated that the subject of the portrait was Sappho of Lesbos, an Ancient Greek poet active during the seventh and sixth centuries BC. This connection lent fame to the work. However, there is no label identifying the portrait as Sappho, and modern scholars now generally treat the portrait as that of an educated, upper-class Pompeiian woman. ^{[1] [9] [10]} Another Pompeiian painting, showing a marriage scene and from the Villa Imperiale, includes a figure sometimes identified as Sappho. ^[11]

Until the later twentieth century, roundel portraits such as the "Sappho" fresco were often considered purely decorative, with scholars generally discounting the suggestion that they may portray specific individuals. More recent studies have judged that Pompeiian painters used life models for their works, though it is usually difficult to discern which individuals are portrayed in specific works, and that roundel portraits could fill various roles, including as religious images and to signify the domestic nature of a space. ^[12] The art historian Susan Silberberg-Peirce has suggested that it could represent the Flavian poet Sulpicia, and that the portrait of a young man found nearby would therefore represent Calaenus, her husband. ^[1]

Excavation

Excavation report of the mural, Naples Royal Printing House (1762)

The first major excavations in Pompeii began in 1748. ^[13] This fresco was uncovered on 17 May 1760 in Regio VI, Insula Occidentalis, in a house on land belonging to the local Cuomo family. ^[4] Alongside it was a central panel depicting the myth of Andromeda and Perseus; the side panels contained the "Sappho" fresco paired with the pendant medallion of a young man clutching a scroll. ^{[1] [4] [14]}

The "Sappho" fresco currently resides at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. ^[9] It was removed from the walls of the original house, a common practice during 18th-century excavations, when ornamental pieces smaller than 30 square centimetres (4.7 sq in) were often extracted for collections. ^{[9] [15]}

Legacy

The Chinese poet Shao Xunmei saw the "Sappho" fresco during a visit to Naples in the early 1920s; in the words of the literary scholar Jingling Chen, the experience made him "the most passionate admirer of Sappho in modern China". ^[16] Shao began writing poetry following his visit, and often imitated of Sappho's works, which he read in English translation. His output included a 1925 poem titled "Sappho" and dedicated to her. ^[17] The American actress, artist and Hellenist Eva Palmer-Sikelianos probably saw the painting during a year spent in Europe between 1898 and 1899: she subsequently performed a tableau vivant themed around Sappho in a 1900 variety show in Bar Harbor, Maine. ^[18]

Footnotes

Explanatory notes

1. Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, providing a terminus ante quem for the painting. ^[3]

References

1. Silberberg-Peirce, Susan (1993). "The Muse Restored: Images of Women in Roman Painting" . Woman's Art Journal. 14 (2): 28–36. doi:10.2307/1358447. ISSN   0270-7993. JSTOR   1358447.
2. Draycott, Jane (23 May 2023). "Foreword". Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen. Liveright Publishing. ISBN   978-1-324-09260-5.
3. Cooley, Alison (2023). Pompeii. London: Bloomsbury. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-350-12524-7.
4. Iacobelli, Natalia (2025-07-17). "Woman with Stylus: What a Portrait Can Tell Us About Women in Ancient Rome". DailyArt Magazine. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
5. Amery, Colin; Curran, Brian (2002). The Lost World of Pompeii. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 144. ISBN   0-89236-687-7.
6. Ling, Roger (1991). Roman Painting . Cambridge University Press. p. 158. ISBN   0-521-30614-0 – via Internet Archive.
7. Maiuri, Amedeo (1953). Roman Painting . New York: Skira. pp. 99–100. OCLC   1036938967 – via Internet Archive.
8. Johne, Renate (2003). "Women in the Ancient Novel". In Schmeling, Gareth L. (ed.). The Novel in the Ancient World (Revised ed.). Leiden: Brill. pp. 156–163. ISBN   0-391-04134-7.
9. Bernardeau, Sandrine (21 August 2013). "Portrait de jeune femme par - œuvre d'art analysée en images". Panorama de l'art (in French). Retrieved 2025-08-06.
10. Kivilo, Maarit (2010). Early Greek Poets' Lives: The Shaping of the Tradition. Leiden and Boston: Brill. pp. 190–199. ISBN   978-90-04-19328-4.
11. Wasdin, Katherine. Eros at Dusk: Ancient Wedding and Love Poetry. Oxford University Press. p. 200. ISBN   978-0-19-086909-0.
12. Bergmann, Bettina. "At Face Value: Painted Ladies on Pompeiian Walls". In Longfellow, Brenda; Perry, Ellen (eds.). Roman Artists, Patrons, and Public Consumption: Familiar Works Reconsidered. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 144. ISBN   978-0-472-13065-8.
13. "Pompeii - Excavations, Ruins, Archaeology". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2025-08-20. Retrieved 2025-09-16.
14. Bragantini, Irene; Sampaolo, Valeria (2009) [526]. La pittura pompeiana[Pompeian Painting]. Electa, Soprintendenza archeologica Napoli e Pompei. ISBN   9788851005757.
15. Moormann, E. M. (1987). "Destruction and Restoration of Campanian Mural Paintings in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries". In S. Cather (ed.). The Conservation of Wall Paintings (PDF). pp. 87–101.
16. Chen, Jingling (2021). "Sappho in China and Japan". In Finglass, P. J.; Kelly, Adrian (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Sappho. Cambridge University Press. pp. 479–480. ISBN   978-1-316-63877-4.
17. Chen, Jingling (2021). "Sappho in China and Japan". In Finglass, P. J.; Kelly, Adrian (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Sappho. Cambridge University Press. pp. 480–481. ISBN   978-1-316-63877-4.
18. Leontis, Artemis (2019). Eva Palmer Sikelianos: A Life in Ruins. Princeton University Press. pp. 10–13. ISBN   978-0-691-21076-6.