The Association Française pour la Peinture Murale Antique (AFPMA), originally dedicated to the study of wall-paintings and stuccowork in Gaul, now includes international research beyond its original spatial and chronological focus. This broader character of the AFPMA is well documented in contributions on material from the La Tène period to the third century a.d. in modern France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Luxemburg. The colloquium proceedings are a forum for the communication of recent finds, new ideas and questions relating to heritage matters. Most of the twenty-three essays focus on recent finds of rescue or regular excavations, predominantly in France. The remaining contributions present wall-paintings and stuccowork from museum depots and completed/discontinued excavations as well as articles on heritage matters and questions of the proper French terminology for wall-paintings. Each contribution includes a short summary in French and a list of bibliographic references. The articles on wall-paintings and stuccowork regularly include site descriptions, accurate depictions of the décor and lists of stylistic comparanda.

The outstanding strength of the volume lies in the numerous full colour illustrations: excellent photographs, maps and site plans. They are most useful for further research and comparative studies. The meticulous line-drawings incorporating existing fragments and the virtual reconstructions of wall-paintings deserve special mention. Due to the fragmentary nature of wall-paintings, these are invaluable for the interpretation of overall wall schemes. In the case of the assembly in Schwarzenacker, Germany, they are essential for the reader's appreciation of the spectacular Dionysian iconography (67–82).

The individual studies provide important contributions to current understanding of Roman wall-paintings in Gaul and beyond. The first two articles form the key contributions of the volume. The excavations in Strasbourg significantly expand the currently limited knowledge of decorations in Roman military camps. Most interesting is the close connection of the high quality décor of the contubernia with comparanda in villas and military camps on the Rhine (9–26). The incised inscription on the wall-painting next to the depiction of a philosopher-like figure in a military context moreover indicates direct interaction with the wall-paintings (27–41). The first contribution reveals a most exciting common feature of the volume: due to the heterogeneous contexts of the wall-paintings gathered in the proceedings, it is once more possible to prove the same décor featured in public, private, military and sacred buildings. The study of technical details of Roman wall-paintings and stuccowork highlights a close relation to the rest of the Roman Empire with far reaching connections, such as to Ephesus (94, 100, 198). Minor observations about graffiti or polychrome architectural features in the sanctuary of Trémonteix enrich the content of the volume. The façade of the north temple reveals rare examples of painted architecture (162–4). The comparison of polychrome architecture falls outside the scope of this volume, but could nonetheless offer an exciting link to recently intensified research in this field.

The comprehensive study of First Style wall-paintings in Cisalpine Gaul (117–23) is most valuable, while comparison with the recently discovered fragments from Aquileia enriches our restricted knowledge of First Style wall-paintings in northern Italy and challenges once more the idea of a common Roman-Campanian style. Next to the discussion of Roman wall-paintings, the essay on recent finds of wall decoration from the La Tène period is most exciting. The clay plaster was finished with lime plaster, while traces of polychrome décor in red and white reflect the main decorative features (301–8). Wall decorations in pre-Roman Gaul are nothing new, but these northernmost data offer the opportunity for a comprehensive survey of the known examples.

Dating Roman wall-painting in terms of style alone is hardly satisfying. The combination of stratigraphic and stylistic information is found in all contributions on recently discovered wall-paintings wherever possible. Most exciting amongst these is the exact chronology of the wall-painting of the ‘systematic second style’ in Titelberg, Luxemburg (83–94), dated around 30 b.c. by dendrochronological methods. This confirms the date of Italian examples. At the same time, it stresses the close ties to pure Roman archetypes established in the Titelberg decoration.

The paper by A. Barbet is a modified version of a former contribution on French terminology for individual features of Roman wall-paintings (239–54). The attempt to establish a common terminology in France was successful in the past and the same is true for the future. Beyond this, it provides a most useful reference tool for non-native French speakers!

Only minor shortcomings detract from the strength of the volume, but these ought to be mentioned. Minor faults in the layout of the reference lists and missing or false cross-references hardly affect the beautiful overall layout. A map at the end of the volume, showing all sites featured in each contribution, would have been a desirable addition. Cross-references to illustrations in contributions dealing with data from the same site would also have been useful.

Above all, this collection of papers positively demonstrates the advantages of including information on the broad archaeological context in any detailed study of Roman wall-painting. As such, it shows that ‘toichographologie’, as advocated by the AFPMA within this very volume (5, 157, 179, 255–7, 339), is already being practised in archaeology successfully — regardless of what terminology is used to describe it.