Pompeii and Europe

A large-scale exhibition project developed to recount the fascination that the archaeological site of Pompeii held for artists and the European imagination, from the start of excavations in 1748 to its dramatic bombing in 1943. This is “Pompeii and Europe. 1748 – 1943”, an exhibition open to the public from 27 May to 2 November 2015 at the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples and simultaneously at the Amphitheatre in Pompeii, with the patronage of Expo Milano 2015.

The exhibition is divided into four chronological sections containing works of various types: paintings, drawings, collections of prints, architectural plans, photographs, sculptures, objects, books and more.

The variety of items on display and the artists involved show how Pompeii, with its buried ruins and its classicism, has fascinated artists from all over Europe for nearly two hundred years, from Ingres to Picasso, Normand to Le Corbusier, Moreau to De Chirico.

The dual exhibition venue features two separate lighting concepts, different but at the same time complementary.

In order to bring together this highly heterogeneous display, the illumination of each piece must be similar but perceivably different, using the “vibrated light” technique. Vibrated light involves alternating different light beams using two 3000K light sources with different spectrums, dimmed individually.

For this project, 10 Watt track-mounted Yori LED projectors were chosen, featuring a special cone louvre with 3 beam widths: 12°, 15° and 20°.

The Pompeii installation features a different concept: whilst in Naples the visitor experience does not take in the totality of the setting at first glance, in Pompeii the light immediately draws the eye to the spectacular architecture of the space as a whole.

The main problem with the round geometry of the setting was controlling the luminous flux output. To remedy this, special brackets were created to allow the Linea Luce Slim LED linear System used to be directly mounted on the arch of the dome.

Client: Naples National Museum of Archaeology

Location: Naples - Pompeii

Lighting Design: Consuline

Architect: Francesco Venezia