New light from Pompeii. A research project on early imperial lighting devices in bronze from the Vesuvian cities

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Ruth Bielfeldt
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456917156

The focus of this multidisciplinary project is on the technology, practice and aesthetics of what we define as Roman light-art. In the archaeological sciences, artificial lighting is still a largely unknown factor. The project aims to provide a new perception and understanding of Roman lighting technologies and its effects. The material basis is the largely unpublished corpus of extravagant lighting devices in bronze, excavated in the Vesuvian cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum: lamps, candelabra, table lamp-stands, and figural tray/lamp bearers (1st century BCE/1st century CE). These objects stand out for the artistic quality of their manufacture. The major part of the material is held at the National Museum in Naples, while a small group of objects, mainly lamps, are kept in the storerooms of the Parco Archeologico di Pompei. Until today, this material has not received a comprehensive study of its iconography, technology, production, utilization, context, and history. The most distinctive feature of the bronze furnishings is their formal idiosyncrasy, in a sometimes bizarre mixture of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and floral forms, which suggests that Roman lighting devices did not only shed light, but produced a sculptural modulation and material reflection of light, as well as dramatic shadow effects, thus transforming the space around them. Roman artificial lighting is a way of designing space, it is light-art. The project integrates an interpretive art-historical/archaeological approach with XRF-spectometric and chemical analysis of alloy compositions and surface treatments, goniophotometric measurements of the reflective properties of the used metal and the overall luminance and intensity of ambient-light, hands-on tests conducted on exact bronze replicas produced on the basis of our analytical results, and a virtual simulation of the night-time lighting conditions of a select triclinium in Pompeii featuring multiple lighting instruments, sculptures and furniture (“The Roman Light-Art Room”). Together with many original objects from Naples, the results will be presented in a major exhibition at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Munich) and an accompanying exhibition catalogue.The proposed project pursues an innovative and original avenue of research on Roman light as a cultural phenomenon and—by focusing on making and practice of human perception—on the history of ancient senses at large. In looking at the performative and social quality of light-art in the context of Roman banqueting, it promises to provide theoretical input for the emerging field of a historical sociology of light. Combining an archaeological with a scientific, an experimental, and a virtual reality approach in a reflected step-by-step methodology we hope to establish a model for further research on the phenomenology and sociology of the senses in historical societies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants