Etruscan art

Fresco of an Etruscan musician with a barbiton, Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia

Bronze cista handle with Sleep and Death Carrying off the Slain Sarpedon, 400-380 BC

Fragments from a temple pediment group in terracotta. Late period

Cista depicting a Dionysian Revel and Perseus with Medusa's Head^[1] 4th century. The complex engraved images are hard to see here.

Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. From around 600 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (especially life-size on sarcophagi or temples), wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors). Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced.^[2]

Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, but few large examples have survived (the material was too valuable, and recycled later). In contrast to terracotta and bronze, there was relatively little Etruscan sculpture in stone, despite the Etruscans controlling fine sources of marble, including Carrara marble, which seems not to have been exploited until the Romans.

The great majority of survivals come from tombs, which were typically crammed with sarcophagi and grave goods, and terracotta fragments of architectural sculpture, mostly around temples. Tombs have produced all the fresco wall-paintings, which show scenes of feasting and some narrative mythological subjects.

Bucchero wares in black were the early and native styles of fine Etruscan pottery. There was also a tradition of elaborate Etruscan vase painting, which sprung from its Greek equivalent; the Etruscans were the main export market for Greek vases. Etruscan temples were heavily decorated with colourfully painted terracotta antefixes and other fittings, which survive in large numbers where the wooden superstructure has vanished. Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion; the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art.^[3]

History

The Etruscans emerged from the preceding Villanovan culture. Due to the proximity and/or commercial contact to Etruria, other ancient cultures influenced Etruscan art, such as Greece, Phoenicia, Egypt, Assyria and the Middle East. The apparent simple character in the Hellenistic era conceals an innovative,and unique style whose pinnacle coincided with the Greek archaic period. The Romans would later come to absorb the Etruscan culture into theirs but would also be greatly influenced by them and their art.

Periods

Etruscan art is usually divided into a number of periods. All dates are approximate.

• 900 to 675 - Early Villanovan period. Already the emphasis on funerary art is evident. Impasto pottery with geometric decoration, or shaped as hut urns. Bronze objects, mostly small except for vessels, were decorated by moulding or incised lines. Small statuettes were mostly handles or other fittings for vessels.^[4]
• 675-575 - "Oriental" or "Orientalising" period. Foreign trade with established Mediterranean civilizations interested in the metal ores of Etruria and other products from further north led to imports of foreign art, especially that of Ancient Greece, and some Greek artists immigrated. Decoration adopted a Greek, Egyptian and Near Eastern vocabulary with palmettes and other motifs, and the foreign lion was a popular animal to depict. The Etruscan upper class grew wealthy and began to fill their large tombs with grave goods. A native Bucchero pottery, now using the potter's wheel, went alongside the start of a Greek-influenced tradition of painted vases, which until 600 drew more from Corinth than Athens.^[5]
• 575-480 - Archaic period - Prosperity continued to grow, and Greek influence grew to the exclusion of other Mediterranean cultures, despite the two cultures coming into conflict as their respective zones of expansion met each other. The period saw the emergence of the Etruscan temple, with its elaborate and brightly-painted terracotta decorations, and other larger buildings. Figurative art, including human figures and narrative scenes, grew more prominent. The Etruscans adopted stories from Greek mythology enthusiatically. Paintings in fresco begin to be found in tombs (which the Greeks had stopped making centuries before), and were perhaps made for some other buildings. The Persian conquest of Ionia in 546 saw a special influx of Greek artist refugees. Other earlier developments continued, and the period produced much of the finest and most distinctive Etruscan art.^[6]
• 480-300 - Classical period - The Etruscans had now peaked in economic and political terms, and the volume of art produced reduced somewhat in the 5th century, with prosperity switching between the coastal cities to the interior, especially the Po valley. In the 4th century volumes revived somewhat, and previous trends continued to develop without major innovations in the repertoire, except for the arrival of red-figure vase painting, and more sculpture such as sarcophagi in stone rather than terracotta. Bronzes from Vulci were exported widely within Etruria and beyond. The Romans were now picking off the Etruscan cities one by one, with Veii conquered around 396.^[7]
• 300-50 BC - Hellenistic or late phase. Over this period the remaining Etruscan cities were all absorbed into Roman culture, and the extent to which art and architecture should be described as Etruscan or Roman is often difficult to judge. Distinctive Etruscan types of object gradually cease to be made, with the last painted vases appearing early in the period, and large painted tombs ending in the 2nd century. Styles continued to follow broad Greek trends, with increasing sophistication and classical realism often accompanied by a loss of energy and character. Bronze statues, now increasingly large, were sometimes replicas of Greek models. The large Greek temple pediment groups of sculptures were introduced, but in terracotta.^[8]

Etruscan sculpture

The Etruscans were very accomplished sculptors. Though the renowned "Capitoline Wolf" (now at the Capitoline Museum of Rome) is now suggested to have been manufactured in the 13th century AD surviving examples in terracotta and bronze are testimony to this. Some of the more famous examples include:

• The Orator or Aule Metele by its name ("L'Arringatore" in Italian), bronze found in Umbria (now at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence)
• the "Apollo of Veii", from the temple at Portanaccio (Veii), painted terracotta attributed to Vulca (now at the National Etruscan Museum)
• the bronze "Chimera of Arezzo" now at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence
• the "Sarcophagus of the Spouses", painted terracotta from Cerveteri (now at the National Etruscan Museum)

The Apollo of Veii is a good example of the mastery with which Etruscan artist produced these large art pieces. He was made, along with others, to adorn the temple at Portanaccio’s roof line. Although his style is reminiscent of the Greek Kroisos Kouros, the notion of having statues on the top of the roof is entirely an Etruscan derivation.^[9]

Painting

Fuller view of the tomb illustrated above

The Etruscan paintings that have survived are all wall frescoes from tombs, mainly located in Tarquinia. The tombs, which housed the remains of whole lineages, were apparently sites for recurrent family rituals, and the subjects of paintings probably have a more religious character than might at first appear.

The frescoes are created by applying paint on top of fresh plaster, so that when the plaster dries the painting becomes part of the plaster, and consequently an integral part of the wall. Colors were created from ground up minerals of different colors and were then mixed to the paint. Fine brushes were made of animal hair.

From the mid 4th century BC chiaroscuro modelling began to be used to portray depth and volume.^[10] Sometimes scenes of everyday life are portrayed, but more often traditional mythological scenes. The depiction of human anatomy never approaches Greek levels. The concept of proportion does not appear in any surviving frescoes and we frequently find portrayals of animals or men out of proportion. One of the best-known Etruscan frescoes is that of Tomb of the Lioness at Tarquinia.

Metalwork

Relief mirror-back with "Herekele" (Hercules) seizing Mlacuch (a woman whose name is found nowhere else), about 500-475 BC.

The Etruscan had a strong tradition of working bronze from very early on, and their small bronzes were widely exported. Apart from moulded bronze, the Etruscans were also skilled at the engraving of cast pieces with complex linear images, whose lines were filled with a white material to highlight them - in modern museum conditions with this filling lost, and the surface inevitably somewhat degraded, they are often much less striking and harder to read than would have been the case originally. This technique was mostly applied to the roundish backs of polished bronze mirrors and to the sides of cistae. A major centre for cistae manufacture was Praeneste, which somewhat like early Rome was an Italic-speaking town in the Etruscan cultural sphere.^[11] Some mirrors, or covers to protect their reflective face, are in a low relief.

Etruscan funerary art

Painted terracotta sarcophagus of Seainti Hanunia Tlesnasa, about 150-130 BCE

The Etruscans excelled in portraying humans. Throughout their history they used two sets of burial practices: cremation and inhumation.^[12] Cinerary urns (for cremation) and sarcophagi (for inhumation) have been found together in the same tomb showing that throughout generations, both forms were used at the same time.^[13] In the 7th century they started depicting human heads on canopic urns and when they started burying their dead in the late 6th century they did so in terracotta sarcophagi.^[14] These sarcophagi were decorated with an image of the deceased reclining on the lid alone or sometimes with a spouse. The Etruscans invented the custom of placing figures on the lid which later influenced the Romans to do the same.^[14] These urns were widely popular in Etruria and, from there, the style made its way to Chiusi. Etruscans made urns using unrefined clay such as impasto. This was discovered due to their almost exact resemblance to one another. They have been identified as far back as the third century B.C. and are technically still used to this day (caskets.) Examples of these pieces can be found today in museums all around the world.

The Hellenistic period funerary urns were generally made in two pieces. The top lid usually depicted a banqueting man or woman (but not always) and the container part was either decorated in relief in the front only or, on more elaborate stone pieces, carved on its sides.^[15] During this period, the terracotta urns were being mass-produced using clay in Northern Etruria (specifically in and around Chiusi).^[16] Often the scenes decorated in relief on the front of the urn were depicting generic Greek influenced scenes.^[17] The production of these urns did not require skilled artists and so what we are left with is often mediocre, unprofessional art, made en masse.^[18] However the color choices on the urns offer evidence as to dating, as colors used changed over time.

• 

  Etruscan Cinerary Urn, mid-2nd century BC, terracotta - Worcester Art Museum

• 

  MMA Etruscan Funerary Urn

• 

  Etruscan Canopic Urn from Chiusi

• 

  Funerary Urn

• 

  Louvre, Sarcophagus of the Spouses, Cerveteri, 520BCE

Art and religion

5th to 4th century necklace in gold

Etruscan art was often religious in character and, hence, strongly connected to the requirements of Etruscan religion. The Etruscan afterlife was negative, in contrast to the positive view in ancient Egypt where it was but a continuation of earthly life, or the confident relations with the gods as in ancient Greece. Roman interest in Etruscan religion centred on their methods of divination and propitiating and discovering the will of the gods, rather than the gods themselves, which may have distorted the information that has come down to us.^[19] Most remains of Etruscan funerary art have been found in excavations of cemeteries (as at Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Populonia, Orvieto, Vetulonia, Norchia), meaning that what we see of Etruscan art is primarily dominated by depictions of religion and in particular the funerary cult, whether or not that is a true reflection of Etruscan art as a whole.

Museums

Etruscan tombs were heavily looted from early on, initially for precious metals. From the Renaissance onwards Etruscan objects, especially painted vases and sarcophagi, were keenly collected. Many were exported before this was forbidden, and most major museum collections of classical art around the world have good selections. But the major collections remain in Italian museums in Rome, Florence, and other cities in areas that were formerly Etruscan, which include the results of modern archaeology.

Major collections in Italy include the National Etruscan Museum (Italian: Museo Nazionale Etrusco) in the Villa Giulia in Rome, National Archaeological Museum in Florence, Vatican Museums, Tarquinia National Museum, and the Archeological Civic Museum in Bologna, as well as more local collections near important sites such as Cerveteri, Orvieto and Perugia.

Gallery

• 

  Etruscan - Balsamarium in the Form of a Deity with Winged Helmet

• 

  Etruscan - Gem with Herakles at Rest

• 

  Etruscan - Breast Ornament (?)

• 

  Naked young man, small bronze, Hellenistic period

• 

  Femme étrusque (Terracotta)

See also

• Etruscan architecture

Notes

1. "Cista Depicting a Dionysian Revel and Perseus with Medusa's Head". The Walters Art Museum.
2. Boardman, 350-351
3. Spivey, Nigel (1997). Etruscan Art. London: Thames and Hudson.
4. Grove, 2 (i)
5. Grove, 2 (ii); Boardman, 349
6. Grove, 2 (iii)
7. Grove, 2 (iv)
8. Grove, 2 (v)
9. (Ramage 2009: 46)
10. Boardman, 352
11. Boardman, 351-352
12. (Turfa 2005: 55)
13. (Richter 1940: 56, note 1)
14. (Ramage 2009:51)
15. (Maggiani 1985: 34)
16. (Maggiani 1985: 100)
17. (Nielsen 1995:328)
18. (Richter 1940: 50)
19. Grove, 3

References

• Boardman, John ed., The Oxford History of Classical Art, 1993, OUP, ISBN 0198143869
• "Grove", Cristofani, Mauri, et al. "Etruscan.", Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. Subscription required
• Maggiani, Adriano (1985). Artistic crafts: Northern Etruria in Hellenistic Rome. Italy: Electra.
• Ramage, Nancy H. & Andrew (2009). Roman Art: Romulus to Constantine. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall.
• Richter, Gisela M. A. (1940). The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Handbook of the Etruscan Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Spivey, Nigel (1997). Etruscan Art. London: Thames and Hudson.
• Turfa, Jean Macintosh (2005). Catalogue of the Etruscan Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Further reading

• Brendel, Otto (1978). Etruscan Art. Harmondsworth: Pelican.
• Brilliant, R. 1984. Visual Narratives: Storytelling in Etruscan and Roman Art. Ithaca: Cornell University Press
• Bonfante, L. 1987. “Daily Life and Afterlife.” In Etruscan Life and Afterlife. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

External links

Media related to Etruscan art at Wikimedia Commons

• Etruscan Art, Laurel Taylor, Smarthistory
• Etruscan pottery from the Albegna Valley/Ager Cosanus survey in Internet Archaeology