Su una cornice in stucco da Agrigento: note di cultura visuale (Insula III, Casa M, Cornice Tipo 6)

This paper focuses on non-figurative decoration as a possible transferer of meanings to the ancient viewer. The aim is to understand the need for structural representation and to clarify the appearance of three-dimensional aniconic elements as simulations of real architectures. Historiography has often emphasised the role of decoration as a device of self-representation for patrons. However, it is possible that some decorative motifs were the result of a visual culture unconsciously imported from the motherland and widespread for the ability to convey a sense of monumentality. The case study is a late Hellenistic house in Agrigentum as an example of re-semanticization of elements that do not represent a specific image, such as some ionic cornices. The outcome of this process is a codified pictorial system, the structural three-dimensional stucco painting, with constant characteristics. Specifically, the variation in the morphology of the denticles of the cornices suggests an alignment with Mediterranean fashions notwithstanding the value of the motif itself. The new Roman owner of the house, in fact, had to consider the cornices as heirlooms showing the antiquity of his house and lineage.