In pictures: Ancient Roman paintings

The mythical love affair between Eros and the beautiful Psyche was a favourite subject for painters.

This fresco was cut out from the wall of the house of Terenzio Neo in Pompeii and later put in a wooden frame.

For a time the Neapolitan royal family, avid collectors, ordered many walls to be destroyed, once the more important frescoes had been taken away to their private picture collections.

But later archaeology became more scientific, and conservation was practised.