The Roman Villa of Livia is located 9 miles outside Rome and has a wonderful subterranean triclinium with its walls painted with an illusionistic garden on all sides. The painted garden inlcudes many varieties of trees, plants, flowers and numerous birds. We decided to recreate this, in part, for our client’s conservatory. Here is an overview of the work.

We first created a sample board to show the client what they might expect to find on their walls. It also gave us the opportunity to colour match and create the colours needed throughout to produce a relatively authentic appearance. Our sample board was about 3×4 ft and was first given a base coat. On top of this came a cobalt glaze followed by a Prussian glaze to produce the sky background colour. At least another two different glazes were then applied to achieve the necessary depth of field behind the foliage. The following photographs below show the board during and after painting and the palette.

All paints and glazes,except for the first initial basecoat, were mixed and colour matched by hand using oil tube colours and oil mediums. We find the oil method by far the best in terms of application methods, colour and finish. Once the chosen design/s had been applied to the sample board it was then a matter painting the garden. Some of the colours chosen for the palette were Lemon Yellow, Orange Chrome, Yellow Ochre, Vermilion, Hooker’s Green, Terre Vert.

Careful study of the painting and research of Livia’s Garden was important to gain an overall understanding of what had to be achieved and it also aided in the decision making process and how to do it. It became apparent whilst researching and during the painting process that the original Roman painters had an exceptional fluidity and skill, not to mention a real sense of humour that seemed to occasionally jump out at you.

Once the sample board was completed (above right photo) it was time to apply the designs onto the walls. This was done by transferring drawings onto the walls and also by projection.

When all ground colours were applied to the walls and woodwork (which was to have a simple mahogany coloured brush grain) the building up of the garden scene took place. The room shape and size made it difficult to photograph, therefore a photographic overview below details one area of the space in progress with after shots.