Polyphemus and Galatea

In the left foreground a large muscular nude male holds a club in his right hand. At the right are four sheep. Behind the man is a large rocky outcropping. In a large body of water at right, a nude woman, seen from the back, arrives on the back of a dolphin. She is escorted and introduced by the sound of a triton’s shell-trumpet.

Polyphemus and Galatea

Medium:
Fresco
Dimensions:
48.3 cm wide, 57.5 cm high
Context:
House of the Colored Capitals, room 29, west wall, central section Pompeii
Date:
1st century CE
Inventory Number:
MANN 8886
Lender:
National Archaeological Museum of Naples
Credit:
Image © Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum of Naples