Roman Pool
The private residence built by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in San Simeon, California is quite a site to behold. Originally named La Cuesta Encantada it is now often referred to as Hearst Castle. It is located on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The estate took 28 years to build and includes the main house, guest houses, two pools, and acres of gardens, terraces and walkways. Its rooms and gardens are decorated with an impressive collection of antiques from around the world. One particularly interesting building is the Roman Pool.
The Roman Pool at Hearst castle is a tiled indoor pool decorated with eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes. The pool appears to be styled after an ancient Roman bath such as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome c. 211-17 CE. The mosaic tiled patterns were inspired by mosaics found in the 5 C. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy (Kastner, p. I-261.) They are also representative of traditional marine monster themes that can be found in ancient Roman baths (Strong, p. 124.) The statues are rough copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues. One such copy represents the "Apoxyomenos." Statuary was used on a considerable scale in the Baths of Caracalla (Strong, p. 124.)
The pool and surrounding room, which were built from 1927-1934, can be compared to an ancient Roman bath. The pool, like the baths, is located indoors. Its water was heated as in a tepidarium. However, in Hearst's complex there were no hot or cold baths as there were in the ancient complex. The Roman Pool complex was designed to contain an exercise room, sweat baths, a handball court and dressing rooms (Cohn/Kastner p. I-258.) The Baths of Caracalla covered an area of 5 acres and contained facilities like exercise rooms, shops, latrines, and dressing rooms, in addition to the baths themselves (Stokstad, p. 274.) Only guests of Hearst were allowed to use his pool whereas anyone could go into the Baths of Caracalla. Both the Roman Pool and the baths could be used by men and women. The main function of the pool and the baths was for recreation and socializing. Hearst's pool was not used for bathing.
The Roman Pool is decorated from ceiling to floor with 1" square mosaic tiles. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either colored (mainly blue or orange) or are clear with fused gold inside. The intense colors and shimmering gold of the tiles combine to create a breathtaking effect. The designs created by the tiles were developed by muralist Camille Solon. The inspiration for some of these designs came from the 5 C. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (Kastner, p. I-261.)
Galla Placidia was the daughter of Roman emperor Theodosius. She built a cruciform oratory for her own mausoleum where she was to lie between her brother Honorius and her son Valentinian. This monument to her is located in Ravenna, Italy (Hutton, p. 203.)
Hearst was affected by the beauty of the mosaics in the mausoleum and incorporated similar styles into his Roman Pool. The walls of the mausoleum are marble but the vaulted arches are composed of blue and gold smalti. The roofs and dome are covered with mosaics of night blue, powdered with stars (Hutton, p. 204.) The Roman Pool is similar to the mausoleum with its blue and gold color scheme and stylized star patterns. It differs because marble was only used in the statues, not on the walls, and their are no religious murals.





In the Baths of Caracalla a considerable amount of glass tile was used to decorate the vaults. Common tile patterns incorporated marine motifs, as does Hearst's pool. Another popular style used in the Baths of Caracalla included black and white tile floor mosaics. The polychrome mosaic was combined with figured panels and used in many rooms (Strong, p. 124.) This is not found in the Roman Pool.
Decorating the Roman Pool are eight marble statues. These statues were carved starting in 1930 by Carlo Freter working in Pietrasanta, Italy. They are rough copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues (Cohn, p. I-265.)
The statue of "Apoxyomenos" is found near the east side of the building. "Apoxyomenos," also known as "The Scraper," is a statue of an athlete scraping dirt and moisture off the underside of his right arm. The original bronze statue was created by the Greek sculptor Lysippos c. 320 B.C.E. Because Lysippos' work does not survive, Freter worked from an ancient Roman copy of "The Scraper" found in the Vatican museum in Rome (Boardman, pp. 158-160.) Freter faithfully copied the Roman copy but also completes the statue with the addition of the missing stirgil (scraper) and the missing fingers of the outstretched hand.
We will never know what Hearst was thinking when he created his Roman Pool. Was he hoping to accurately depict an ancient Roman bath, or did he just like Roman art? Overall he kept to a romanticized 1930's version of the Roman theme, with decorations that span three centuries. Looking at the rest of his "castle" leads one to believe that Hearst combined whatever he thought was impressive. This pool is truly impressive.

Sources
Boardman, John. Greek Art. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964.
Cohn, Leslie and Kastner, Vicki. Roman Pool.
(Information from Hearst Castle P.R. Department)
Hutton, Edward. The Story of Ravenna. London: J.M.Dent & Sons, Ltd, 1926.

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1995.

Strong, David. Roman Art. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, Ltd, 1976.

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