Pompei travel poster – House of Faun statue – Mario Puppo – 1950

Pompei travel poster – House of Faun statue – Mario Puppo – 1950 This vintage Pompei travel poster features a stunning image of the Dancing Faun, which is located in the atrium of the House of Faun in Pompei. According to Wikipedia – The House of the Faun was built during the 2nd century BC and was one of the largest and most impressive private residences in Pompei. The house contained many great pieces of art and is one of the most luxurious aristocratic surviving houses from the Roman period. It is widely considered to reflect this period better than most other archaeological evidence found, even in Rome. On the Pompei travel poster, to the left of the faun is a fresco of two women that appears on the walls of  The Villa of the Mysteries, titled ‘Woman with Cupid’. The villa stood outside of Pompeii’s main gates in the second century BC. According to an online article on the Daily Review website the house had at least 60 rooms, most were decorated with architectural trompe l’oeil, landscapes, and scenes of sacrifices, gods, and satyrs. But the most remarkable frescoes were found in a dining room, where, against a vivid red background more than 20 life-size figures are engaged with either wedding preparations or an initiation ritual into the mystery cult of Dionysis. In one panel of the Dionysiac frieze a woman who has an entirely modern face, not to mention a vacant expression, is seated in front of a cupid who holds up a mirror in which her reflection is visible. The poster was created by the Italian artist Mario Puppo for the Ente Nazionale Italiano per il Turismo (ENIT), better known in English as The Italian Government Tourist Board. The Pompei travel poster also features the world-famous volcano Mount Vesuvius, which is located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples. It is the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 that destroyed the Roman cities of  Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabiae and of course, Pompei, making it probably the most famous ruins in the world today. Today Vesuvius is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of over 3,000,000 people living near enough to be affected by an eruption, 600,000 of which are in the volcano’s danger zone. Pompei’s vast archaeological site was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Original copies of this rare, colourful and sought-after Pompei travel poster sell for in excess of £1,500.