‘Supporting characters’ in mythological painting from the Vesuvius area: an iconographic interpretation.

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the presence and significance of the numerous secondary characters that appear in paintings from the Vesuvian area. It presents a brief sequence of occurrences and an early iconographic reading of this category of subjects, which seems to be able to establish a connection with the outside of the picture, both in terms of its relationship with the viewer and as an evocation of realities outside the painting.