Context and Meaning, (actes 12e coll. AIPMA, Athènes, sept., 2013), 2017, 527 p. -

Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique. This volumes contains 81 contributions on ancient wall painting presented in the form of papers and posters during the twelfth triennial meeting of the Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique (AIPMA) held at Athens from September 16 through September 20, 2013. In recent decades there has been a growing interest among researchers in the analysis of paintings in terms of their context rather than as expressions of art in and for itself. Therefore the conference focused on figural themes, and to the iconographical and iconological problems of paintings considered in relation to their specific contexts. Which messages images in wall painting, from the archaic to the late-antique period (ca 700 BC-AD 500) conveyed to contemporary viewers in specific contexts and how were they received ? Many contributions in this volume zoom in on the rationale behind the use of specific motifs in wall paintings, the syntax of decorative systems in particular contexts, as well as specific fashions in the use of figural themes in determined areas or sites in the ancient world.