2,000 years ago an owner's wealth and status were proclaimed by painting walls with beautiful panoramas of nature, buildings, people, artefacts and mythological beings - to relax and also stimulate all who saw them.
An artist created designs. Different coloured rocks and stones were ground down to powders and mixed with water to achieve the desired colours. Walls were coated with plaster, and the fresco designs were painted onto walls while the plaster was still wet so the colours bonded into the plaster for longevity.
Frescoes decorated walls of other ancient civilizations, but Pompeii and Herculaneum frescoes are unusual classic-style images.
(Smaller ones are wonderful in groups.)
Swiss architect and engineer Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), was responsible for much of Rome’s redevelopment. In 1600 he accidentally discovered the buried region of Pompeii while tunnelling for the construction of a viaduct. The location was not known to have been a great city, so further excavation was not organized, and did not begin for another 150 years, in 1748 - although informal digging, damage and theft frequently occurred over the years. Herculaneum was discovered in 1709 when men digging a well, uncovered a decorated wall of the city. As the town of Ercolano had been built above it, excavation began 30 years later. 
In the mid-18th century the first major archaeological excavations were officially recorded. Eminent artists drew the discoveries and specialist engravers of antiquities were employed to carve intricate mezzotint engravings on copper plates for printing in Naples between 1757 and 1792, for circulation.
Including discoveries at Pompeii and Stabia, Le Antichita di Ercolano Esposta (The Antiquities of Herculaneum Exposed) was the most important 18th century archaeology work. Although excavation is slow and careful, many frescoes were damaged. Some fresco illustrators 'shaded' sections with dotted lines to indicate fresco damage - which adds to their charm and reminds us of their source and history.
These engravings are quite distinctive, after sketches by the Spanish architectural engineer and archaeological excavator Francesco Lavega, Roman excavator illustrator and chief conservator and restorer of the Museum of Herculanense (part of King Charles VII of Naples's royal palace in Portici) Camillo Paderni, and Italian architect Luigi Vanvitelli. 
Notable classical engravers of the period, who sometimes also drew the illustrations, were Niccolo Vanni, Pietro Antonio Pazzi, Rocco Pozzi, Giuseppe Antonio Aloja, Filippo Morghen, Francesco Cepparuli, Giovanni Battista and Carlo Nolli, Nicolaus Billy and Nicolaus Oraly.
Before modern technology, information needed to be recorded by painstakingly drawing and carving into a printing plate, which was then inked and wiped, before printing under pressure to force the ink to be transferred from the carved image onto paper. Up until the late 18thC etchings and engravings were printed on paper that was made by hand.
The grained texture of the paper adds character to these antique prints and maps, as does the heavy ink that sometimes shows through to the rear - particularly when both sides are printed - and assists in identifying the age of antique paper. Appreciation of early engravings has resulted in many being coloured since printing - which usually makes them more widely desirable.
Enjoy the website images at /Antique-Prints/Classical-Antique-Design/Frescoes,Reliefs-painted,carved.aspx
Please let me know if I can be of assistance.
Kathryn Nicholls - Director, Antique Print Club