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Chapter 6The Etruscans

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 14e

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Italy in Etruscan Times

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Goals• Identify the geographic area of the Etruscan

people.• Examine the possible origins of Etruscan art and

culture. • Understand how and why the architecture and

art of the Etruscans is different from that of the Greeks.

• Understand the funerary customs of the Etruscans.

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6.1 Etruscan Origins and Geographical

Locations/Villanovan Period• Identify the geographic area of the Etruscan people.

• Examine the possible origins of Etruscan art and culture.

• Examine the religious and mythological similarities among the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks.

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Early Etruscan Art

• Examine the orientalized designs of Etruscan jewelry.

• Understand jewelry making techniques and materials originating in the east.

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Figure 6-2 Fibula with Orientalizing lions, from the Regolini-Galassi Tomb, Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 650–640 BCE. Gold, 1’ 1/2” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

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Etruscan Architecture

• Understand why Etruscan temple architecture is different from Greek architecture.

• Compare the Etruscan and Greek temples in terms of materials, columns, space, function and placement of statuary.

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Figure 6-3 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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Etruscan Sculpture

• Examine the formal qualities of the Etruscan Apollo and the “Sarcophagus of the Cerveteri.”

• How are both objects unique in terms of materials, poses, and social commentary?

• Examine the role of women in Etruscan society.

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Figure 6-4 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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Figure 6-5 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.

Figure 6-6 Tumuli in the Banditaccia necropolis, Cerveteri, Italy, seventh to second centuries BCE.

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Figure 6-7A Plan of the Tomb of the Shields and Chairs, Cerveteri, Italy, second half of the sixth century BCE.

6-7 Interior of the Tomb of the Shields and Chairs, Banditaccia necropolis, Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 550–500 BCE.

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15Figure 6-8 Interior of the Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, Italy, third century BCE.

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6.2 Etruscan Classical and Hellenistic Periods

• Understand the funerary customs and beliefs of the Etruscans and their resulting artistic forms in tomb architecture, low relief sculpture, and wall painting.

• Examine later Etruscan art in terms of materials and subject matter as result of contact and being conquered by the Greeks and the Romans.

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Etruscan Tombs and Funerary Art

• Understand the materials, methods and techniques used in Etruscan wall painting.

• Explore the subject matter in Etruscan painting.

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Figure 6-9 Interior of the Tomb of the Leopards, Tarquinia, Italy, ca. 480–470 BCE.

6-9A Interior of the Tomb of the Triclinium, from the Monterozzi necropolis, Tarquinia, Italy, ca. 480–470 BCE. Fresco, side walls 8’ high. Museo Nazionale Archeologico, Tarquinia.

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Figure 6-10 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

• What evidence is present for the influence of the Greeks and Romans in the Etruscan art?

• What is the importance of the Capitoline Wolf?

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Figure 6-11 Capitoline Wolf, from Rome, Italy, ca. 500–480 BCE. Bronze, 2’ 7 1/2” high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.

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Figure 6-12 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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Figure 6-13 NOVIOS PLAUTIOS, Ficoroni Cista, from Palestrina, Italy, late fourth century BCE. Bronze, 2’ 6” high. Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome.

6-13A Chalchas examining a liver, engraving on the back of a mirror, from Vulci, ca. 400 –375 BCE. Bronze, 7” diameter. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

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Figure 6-14 Porta Marzia (Gate of Mars), Perugia, Italy, second century BCE.

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Figure 6-15 Sarcophagus of Lars Pulena, from Tarquinia, Italy, early second century BCE. Tufa, 6’ 6” long. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Tarquinia.

Fig 6-15A Sarcophagus lid with portraits of Ramtha Visnai and Arnth Tetnies, from the Ponte Rotto necropolis, Vulci, Italy, ca. 350–300 BCE. Nenfro, 7’ 1 3/4” long. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Figure 6-16 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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Discussion Questions Where do you believe the Etruscans

originated? Why is their origin not known?

What does Etruscan wall painting tell us about Etruscan life? How is this different from the wall paintings of the Egyptians? of the Aegean cultures?

What aspects of Etruscan art and architecture is unique to them?