Origin of repatriated erotic mosaic uncovered

Researchers have discovered the true origins of the mosaic panel of an intimate domestic scene that was looted by a Nazi officer in Italy during World War II and recently repatriated to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. Spoiler: it never had anything at all do with Pompeii and its environs.

Made in the undulating opus vermiculatum technique, the mosaic panel depicts a semi-nude man reclining on a couch, raising the cover draped over his legs. Standing in front of him is a semi-nude woman wearing only a strophium (bandeau bra) and a yellow mantle that has fallen down her to knees. His sandals are placed on a bronze footrest with lion paw feet. She’s reaching over to the raised cover as if to raise it higher so she can join the man. It’s an amorous scene, the beginning of an intimate encounter, set in a private bedroom or cubiculum. The style and motif of the panel dates it to between the middle of the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. when domestic scenes like this gained popularity over the heroic mythological scenes preferred in the Hellenistic era.

There was no information on its origin as the Wehrmacht captain in charge of military supplies in Italy in 1943/4 gave it to a friend after he returned to Germany. The descendants of that friend knew nothing of its history, but they realized it had to have been looted and decided to restitute it to the Italian nation.

Several mosaics comparable in style and technique — meticulously crafted opus vermiculatum mosaics on travertine slabs that originally were centerpieces of large floor mosaics — have been found in the area around Vesuvius, including in the luxury villas of Stabiae. They are now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, so the Ministry of Culture decided to assign the panel to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

The Park carried out multi-disciplinary analyses of the panel and found evidence indicating it was produced in Latium and then sold out of the region. The mosaic workshops (musivarii) created these highly detailed emblema (central panels) using tiny polychrome tesserae just 1-3mm square. The small tiles laid in undulating, wavy lines were basically the ancient equivalent of pixel art. The idea was to create the chromatic smoothness of a painting in hard floors.

The mosaics were mounted inside a travertine slab that had a recess a few cm deep cut out from the surface. Mortar was spread in the recess and then the tesserae set in the mortar. This allowed the workshops to commercialize their work on a large scale, creating prefabricated inserts that could be safely shipped far and wide for installation on site.

The smoking gun in narrowing down its origins was a fortuitous meeting when the repatriated mosaic was presented to the press in 2025. One of the archaeologists who attended the presentation, Giulia D’Angelo, is from the Le Marche region and she brought a hometown insight that proved essential to solving the mystery.

The mosaic came from a Roman villa in Rocca di Morro, a village on the outskirts of Folignano in Le Marche. We know this for a fact because there are written records of it dating back to the 18th century. The first attestation dates to 1790 when Baldassare Orsini described it among the antiquities of marquess Federico Malaspina in his palace in Ascoli Piceno. Eight decades later in around 1868, painter and archaeologist Giulio Gabrielli (1832-1910) made a sketch of it and took notes on its subject and discovery site. The sketch was from memory, not life, because there are some errors. He interpreted the scene as the man offering the woman a bag of money in return for sexual services, misreading the raised cover as a moneybag.

Gabrielli also documented its ownership history, in a rather informal sense of the word. wrote that it had been found in an estate of the Malaspina family in Rocca di Moro. The Malaspina family sold the mosaic at auction after which it passed to “a conman” and then to a silkworm businessman from Ascoli Piceno named Giovanni Tranquilli. He mentions one last owner, the Silvestri family.

The last reference to the mosaic found in the documentary record comes from the archive of the Consultation of the National Archaeological Museum of Milan. It records one Lucia Silvestri’s attempt to sell the mosaic to them.

“Great team work, reconstructing history is team work, and this is an example of how dedication, professionalism and passion lead to unexpected discoveries not only in Pompeii, but also in lesser-known but no less important sites for understanding and enhancing classical heritage throughout the peninsula,” says Pompeii Archaeological Park Director Gabriel Zuchtriegel. “Thanks to the latest research, a specialized Lazio production emerges that exports precious mosaics, presumably made in considerable quantities, to territories such as Marche, Campania and Puglia; a discovery of great interest not only for the history of Roman art, but also for the economic history of the Roman world.”

“This event gives back to Folignano a precious fragment of its memory and strengthens the deep connection between our community and its most ancient history,” said Folignano Mayor Matteo Terrani. “The fact that the work comes from a Roman villa in Rocca di Morro gives new value to a symbolic place that is a fundamental part of our identity. As an administration we are working, together with enthusiasts and volunteers, to promote initiatives to enhance the site. In the coming weeks we will travel to Pompeii to be able to view the mosaic and meet with the director of the Archaeological Park Gabriel Zuchtriegel, whom I thank for his availability and professionalism, with the aim of starting a constructive dialogue and new prospects for collaboration.”

* This article was originally published here