In the past year, the MANN has undertaken a restoration campaign of many of the materials kept at the Drawing Archive. These include engravings, watercolors, gouaches, and plans of the findings from Herculaneum and Pompeii collected through over two centuries of documentation of the Vesuvian excavations.
The focus is on the Pompeian house. In this sense, the exhibition not only celebrates the recent restorations by showing the public works that are rarely exhibited, but, together with the exhibition 1859 – A Russian Photographer in Pompeii. Gabriel Ivanovič de Rumine, it is in dialogue with the new permanent setup dedicated to the house and domestic furnishings in rooms XCI–XCIV.

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples owns 74 Pompeian watercolors by Luigi Bazzani (1836–1927): one of the richest collections, along with the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. A successful set designer, Bazzani arrived in Pompeii in the 1880s to dedicate himself extensively to producing watercolors of the city's monuments. His sheets stand out for a surprising attention to detail, so much so that in 1922 the Naples Museum acquired a core to support the documentation of the excavations and initially exhibited them in the Pompeii Plaster Room. The sheets on display mainly represent interiors of houses, furnishings still in place, and gardens.

Starting from a large watercolor illustrating its ancient roof tiles, the exhibition provides an in-depth look at a specific Pompeian house: the House of the Faun. Discovered in the early 1830s, the building is remarkable for the richness and sophistication of its decorative apparatus. The gouaches, watercolors, and photos on display, executed in the years shortly after the discovery, illustrate both the overall layout and the sophisticated decorations.

The exhibition is curated by Andrea Milanese, Ruggiero Ferrajoli, and Domenico Pino, and will be open for visits until February 28, 2025, in room XCV on the second floor of the Museum.