Augustus Garden Room

Creating Augustus’ Landscape: The Garden Room at Prima Porta The Garden Room at Prima Porta is an unlikely example of how Emperor Augustus’ reign changed Rome; creating a “golden age” that painted what Augustus wanted for Rome: a Republic of peace and tranquility. This Republic of peace and tranquility also relates to specific foliage in the Garden Room, as well as how the plants relate to the god, Apollo. However, it should be noted that the concept garden rooms was not knew in Ancient Rome, but because of Augustus, these garden rooms became more atmospheric in perspective and changed in subject (the specific kinds of plants). Essentially, the Garden Room at Prima Porta is an example of how Augustus’ Golden Age, a political and Republican
virtue, was able to affect something as extraneous as landscape frescoes, changing them from social rooms that depicted an appreciation for nature to private rooms that depicted nature for symbolic sake. To understand why the Garden Room at Prima Porta was so significant to Augustus’ rule specifically, it is crucial to understand the garden rooms of Rome’s past.
As mentioned previously, garden rooms were not at all new prior to Prima Porta. Initially, garden rooms were used in social settings and were quite common around Rome. These garden rooms did not acquire a connection to nobles and the upper class until Augustus’ reign . This is what is known as the “2nd style garden room”. The Garden Room at Prima Porta is well known because of the variety of foliage it depicts and how identifiable these plants are. According to Kuttner, the first painted trees can be dated back to 80 CE at Pompeii, demonstrating an already existing Roman interest in foliage that does not yet relate to Augustus’ rule . These tree frescoes at Pompeii lack the amount of detail and perspective that the Garden Room fresco has, but they nonetheless provide an important look at how landscapes were originally painted in a Roman setting. In contrast, it is evident that the Garden Room demonstrates a new type of landscape that is not only pure in its aesthetic (i.e. purity meaning that it only shows a landscape and does not represent any human figures or distinct narratives), but also pure in its values because of the particular types of
foliage. There is much agreement among scholars about how the particular foliage in the painting at Prima Porta is meant to directly relate to Augustus’ rule and his proposition as Rome being within a “Golden Age”.
Kuttner acknowledges this scholarship in her own article, and adds a visual analysis to the Garden Room that further explains the room’s context in connection with other ancient Roman rooms . For example she discusses that like other garden rooms it was on a lower or “sunken” level, and in turn that it was likely a storage room . Another prominent scholar who discusses the relationship between the Garden Room and Augustus’ “Golden Age”, is Kellum. Kellum goes into great detail about the relationship that Augustus shared with the god Apollo, and how according to ancient Roman writers, Augustus’ rule was a sign of rebirth and renewal of the city in relation to all the new physical signs of growth in his life (i.e. growth of plants, seeds, trees) . Specifically, Augustus has a symbolic relationship to laurel that appears as a motif in many coins made during his reign and in wall paintings that Kellum highlights . This is important to his reign because Apollo, the god of the Sun, was also tied to the laurel tree . This connection that is made between Augustus and Apollo is what leads up to the “Golden Age”, gold not only as a symbol of wealth, but gold in relation to the sun and Apollo. Furthermore, this is why the Garden Room is decorated so highly with laurel. It
is a reminder to those who look upon it of not only Augustus’ rule, but also Apollo the sun god due to the symbolism that the laurel entails.
Although the Garden Room landscape is considered revolutionary for its atmospheric perspective, this is not the most significant part of it. The symbolism amongst the laurel, and also amongst many of the other plants (i.e. oak and palm) in the image is most prominent. These aspects of the wall painting, which are seemingly unrelated to Augustus at all, are actually in fact the most telling about the kind of vision or portrayal of Rome as a Republic and himself as a ruler. The foliage connects Augustus to the past, creating a new era that is bettered because of this reference. The plants are in turn telling of Augustus as a ruler, demonstrating the tranquil and triumphant manner in which he conducted himself as Emperor .
The Garden Room at Prima Porta remains a crucial piece of artwork to understand the historical context and subtle nuances of Augustus’ reign in Ancient Rome, and the types of values set out through his “Golden Age”. The wall painting is demonstrative of many types of foliage that reference Augustus’ rise to ruler ship, and is demonstrative of his destiny in relation to Apollo. The Garden Room is also an prime example of how symbolism can be incorporated into artworks to create an extremely affective work; a combination of subtlety in meaning and skill in demonstrating perspective that is so distinctly Augustan.