Context and Meaning

This volumes contains 81 contributions on ancient wall painting
presented in the form of papers and posters during the twelfth triennial
meeting of the Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale
Antique (AIPMA) held at Athens from September 16 through September
20, 2013. 120 participants were guests of Radboud University Nijmegen
and the Ecole Francaise d'Athenes, in collaboration with the Netherlands
Institute at Athens, and the National Hellenic Research Foundation.












In recent decades there has been a growing interest among researchers in
the analysis of paintings in terms of their context rather than as
expressions of art in and for itself. Therefore the conference focused
on figural themes, and to the iconographical and iconological problems
of paintings considered in relation to their specific contexts. Which
messages images in wall painting, from the archaic to the late-antique
period (ca 700 BC-AD 500) conveyed to contemporary viewers in specific
contexts and how were they received?











Many contributions in this volume zoom in on the rationale behind the
use of specific motifs in wall paintings, the syntax of decorative
systems in particular contexts, as well as specific fashions in the use
of figural themes in determined areas or sites in the ancient world.
Within the series of BABESCH supplements, this book is a sequel to the
third one of 1993 which contains the proceedings of the fifth AIPMA
conference in Amsterdam.











The two editors have carried out extensive research in the field of
ancient mural decorations, especially in the context of Roman houses,
villas, and temples, and were members of subsequent AIPMA boards. While
Eric Moormann was responsible for the organisation of the Amsterdam
colloquium in 1992, Stephan Mols organised the Athens conference in
2013, the proceedings of which are presented in this BABESCH supplement.
Both Mols and Moormann are members of the Institute for Historical,
Literary and Cultural Studies of the Faculty of Arts of Radboud
University at Nijmegen, The Netherlands.