THE
ETRUSCANS
GARDINER – CHAPTER 9-1
PP. 223-234
THE ETRUSCANS BACKGROUND

“The Etruscans, as everyone knows,
were the people who occupied the
middle of Italy in early Roman days,
and who the Romans, in their usual
neighborly fashion, wiped out
completely.” – D. H. Lawrence

Etruscan art -> deeply influenced by,
yet different from, Greek art

Etruscan sculpture, painting, and
architecture provided the models for
early Roman art and architecture

ETRURIA = the territory the Etruscans
controlled -> northern and central
Italy

Lacked political cohesion
EARLY ETRUSCAN ART

Etruscan art divides into period mirroring Greek art –

ETRUSCAN ORIENTALIZING ART = 700-600 BCE

ETRUSCAN ARCHAIC ART = 600-480 BCE

ETRUSCAN CLASSICAL AND HELLENISTIC ART = 480-89 BCE
ORIENTALIZING PERIOD OF
ETRUSCAN ART

7TH century BCE -> mineral wealth
transforms Etruscan society

Villages become cities ->
international trade -> foreign goods > taste for luxury objects

Local artisans inspired by foreign
goods with Eastern motifs

Fibula with Orientalizing lions, from
Regolini-Galassi tomb, Cerveteri,
Italy, ca. 650-640 BCE, 1’ ½ “

FIBULA = clasp or safety pin -> used
to fasten a woman’s gown at
shoulder

Combines repousse and granulation
-> the work is Etruscan but the lions
are Eastern motifs
ETRUSCAN TEMPLES

Model of a typical 6th century Etruscan
temple as described by Vitruvius

Wooden columns, terracotta tiled roof,
walls of sun-dried brick

Narrow staircase at center of front of
temple, temple sat on a high stone
podium, columns only in front, deep
porch

TUSCAN COLUMNS = unfluted wooden
columns with bases

3 cellas

Pedimental statuary was rare -> life size
terracotta narrative statuary on the peak
of the temple roof
APULU OF VEII

Apulu (Apollo), from the roof of
the Portonaccio temple, Veii, Italy,
ca. 510-500 BCE, 5’11”

Painted terracotta

Calls to mind the Archai korai of
the Acropolis in Ionian garb -> but,
striding motion, gesticulating arms,
calf muscles and animated face
are distinctly Etruiscan
CERVETERI SARCOPHAGUS

Sarcophagus with reclining couple, from
Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 520 BCE

Terracotta masterwork of a husband and
wife reclining on a banquet couch

Sarcophagus was brightly painted, cast in
four sections, monumental size 3’9” x 6”7”

No parallel in Greece -> image is uniquely
Etruscan

Man and women are animated -> different
rendering of upper and lower parts of the
body -> basic legs, unnatural transition to
torso -> focus is on upper half of the figures
BANDITACCIA NECROPOLIS

Tumuli/mound tombs in the Banditaccia
necropolis, Cerveteri, Italy, 7th to 2nd
century BCE

Tumulus = similar to Mycenaean Treasury
of Atrues

Cerveteri tombs were subterranean multichambered tombs cut into the local
limestone

Some as large as 130 feet

Tombs arranged along a network of
streets

Interiors resembled houses of the living ->
beds, chairs, doors and ceiling beams
were carved out of the bedrock
TOMB OF RELIEFS

Most elaborate in decoration of
the Ceveteri tombs Tomb of Reliefs
3rd century BCE

Painted stucco reliefs cover the
walls and piers

Tools, mirrors, drinking cups and
other items suggest a domestic
context
TOMB OF THE
LEOPARDS

Interior Tomb of the Leopards, Tarquinia,
Italy, ca. 480-470 BCE

Mural paintings but not carved domestic
objects decorate the underground tombs at
Tarquinia

Named for the leopards that guard the
tomb from pediment of the rear wall ->
reminiscent of panthers on each side of
Medusa at the Temple of Artemis at Corfu

Banqueting couples, servants, and musicians
-> all make exaggerate gestures w/large
hands

Celebrates life, food, wine, music, and
dance -> tone is joyful
TOMB OF HUNTING AND FISHING

Diving and fishing, detail of a
mural painting in the Tomb of
Hunting and Fishing, Tarquinia,
Italy, ca. 530-520 BCE

Recalls paintings in Egyptian
tombs

Rocks resemble those in Theran
Spring Fresco mural

Predates the Greek Tomb of the
Diver at Paestum