The plaster painting

The painted wall plaster from the Gresham Street excavation was found face down. It had to be lifted carefully and no one knew what it might depict or how well preserved any painting might be. So when conservator Liz Barham came to clean back the dirt, she was both astonished and delighted by what she found.

The full picture cannot be reconstructed from the fragments that have been found, but there are enough pieces to get a sense of what must have been an extremely high-status wall painting. One fragment showed part of a team of horses, or sea-horses. Another showed the face of a young woman, with decorative vines and a fluted column. Yet another showed the head of a young man, and above it a 'thyrsus', the stick associated with the god Bacchus.

Liz Barham thinks that the complete painting may have depicted Bacchus himself, accompanied by his followers. It is thought to date from the second century AD, possibly from a bath house or the town house of wealthy resident. The vibrant colours and skilled drawing reflect a quality of wall painting that has been found only rarely in Britain. She describes it as 'the most fantastic wall plaster I've ever worked on'.