The Getty Peacock Fresco: Unravelling Its History through Technical and Historical Investigations

Le résumé fourni par la source

Acquired by J. Paul Getty himself in 1968, the Getty Museum’s fragment of a fresco depicting a peacock (68.AG.13) has long been a favorite among visitors. Hitherto considered to be an ancient Roman work produced in Campania circa 70 CE, it has been reproduced as museum merchandise, textbook illustrations, and gift-shop decor. Recent technical examination and analyses combined with historical research, however, reveal that the popular peacock is not in fact ancient, nor does it seem to be a forgery. Rather, it appears to be a reproduction of a now-lost fresco from a Pompeian house that was fashioned to decorate an early twentieth-century “free Greek-style” bungalow designed by architect Robert Alexander Briggs in the English countryside.

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