Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
Chapter 9
The Etruscans
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Italy in Etruscan Times
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The Etruscans
• People who inhabited the central part of Italy (Tuscany is named for
them) and were wiped out by the Romans
• Little is known about their origin
• During the 7th and 8th centuries BCE, because of seafaring skills,
became avid traders. They controlled most of northern and central Italy
by the 6th century.
• Cities coexisted but did not share a common government, making them
vulnerable to invasion
Etruscan Architecture
•
Etruscans sought inspiration from the Greeks
•
Resembled Doric and Ionic Temples - but had wooden columns and roof
and walls were sun dried bricks
•
Columns only on front of building resulting in a large porch
•
Operated as ornate home for grand statues of their gods
•
Columns were non-fluted, more widely spaced.
•
Had three cellas: one for each of their chief gods: Tinia, Uni and Menrva
•
Terracotta statues were placed on top of the roof - not in the pediment
•
Terracotta -
Figure 9-3 Model of a typical sixth-century BCE Etruscan temple, as described by Vitruvius. Istituto di Etruscologia e di
Antichità Italiche, Università di Roma, Rome.
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Tombs were designed
just like Etruscan
homes
There were beds,
chairs, framed
doorways, and even
windows.
Figure 9-7 Plan of the Tomb of the Shields
and Chairs, Cerveteri, Italy, second half of the
sixth century BCE.
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Figure 9-8 Interior of the Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, Italy, third century BCE.
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Figure 9-9 Interior of the Tomb of the Leopards, Tarquinia, Italy, ca. 480–470 BCE.
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Displays energy and excitement that
characterize Etruscan art
Come from the Portonaccio temple
where it adorned the roof
The god confronts Hercle for
possession of the Ceryneian hind, a
beast with golden horns sacred to
Artumes, sister of Apulu
The figures extraordinary force, huge
swelling contours, gesticulating arms,
fanlike calf muscles and animated face
are distinct features of Etruscan
sculpture
Figure 9-4 Apulu (Apollo), from the roof of the Portonaccio temple,
Veii, Italy, ca. 510–500 BCE. Painted terracotta, 5’ 11” high. Museo
Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.
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Cervetri Sarcophagus
• Husband and wife sharing a banqueting couch is uniquely Etruscan
• Symbiotic relationship - man has protective gesture around the woman;
the woman feeds the man; reflects the high standing women had in
Etruscan society
• Cast in four sections and is monumental in size but only contained the
ashes of the deceased
• They are animated.
• The legs are only summarily modeled and the transition from waist to
torso is an unnatural L shape
• The focus is on the animated faces and gesticulating arms
Figure 9-5 Sarcophagus with reclining couple, from Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 520 BCE. Painted terracotta, 3’ 9 1/2” X 6’ 7”.
Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.
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Figure 9-10 Diving and fishing, detail of a mural painting in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing, Tarquinia, Italy, ca. 530–
520 BCE. Detail, 5’ 6 1/2” high.
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Classical and Roman Etruscan Art
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The Capitoline Wolf
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Larger than life, hollow-cast Bronze
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The she-wolf, that according to legend, nursed Romulus and Remus after
they were abandoned
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When they became adults Romulus slayed Remus.
•
Romulus founded Rome on April 21, 753 BCE
•
Was created for Roman Republic by an Etruscan artist.
•
The suckling infants were added by Renaissance sculptor, Antonio
Pollaiuolo
Figure 9-11 Capitoline Wolf, from Rome, Italy, ca. 500–480 BCE. Bronze, 2’ 7 1/2” high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.
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Chimera of Arezzo
• Found in 1553 and admired during the Renaissance
• Greek monster - lion’s head and body and a serpent’s tail and a
second head of a goat grows from the lion’s left side
• The goat’s neck bears a wound from Beller-ophon a Greek hero who
slew the beast
Figure 9-12 Chimera of Arezzo, from Arezzo, Italy, first half of fourth century BCE. Bronze, 2’ 7 1/2” high. Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Florence.
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Cistae - cylindrical
containers for a woman’s
toilet articles
A popular gift during this
time
The engraving depicts a scene
from the Greek story of the
Argonauts in search of the
golden fleece
Figure 9-13 NOVIOS PLAUTIOS, Ficoroni
Cista, from Palestrina, Italy, late fourth century
BCE. Bronze, 2’ 6” high. Museo Nazionale di
Villa Giulia, Rome.
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Figure 9-14 Porta Marzia (Gate of Mars), Perugia, Italy, second century BCE.
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Figure 9-15 Sarcophagus of Lars Pulena, from Tarquinia, Italy, early second century BCE. Tufa, 6’ 6” long. Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Tarquinia.
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Another example of Etruscan
bronze-casting expertise
Aule Metele was only an Etruscan
by name - he wears a Roman toga
and high laced boots which signify
he is a Roman magistrate
His aging face and close-cropped
hair resemble Roman portraits
produced during that time showing Rome’s dominance of the
former Etruscan city-states
Figure 9-16 Aule Metele (Arringatore), from Cortona, near
Lake Trasimeno, Italy, early first century BCE. Bronze, 5’
7” high. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence.
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