THE ETRUSCANS GARDINER – CHAPTER 9-1 PP

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 = BCE  ETRUSCAN ARCHAIC ART = BCE  ETRUSCAN CLASSICAL AND HELLENISTIC ART = BCE

ORIENTALIZING PERIOD OF ETRUSCAN ART  7 TH 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 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 6 th 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 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, 7 th to 2 nd century BCE  Tumulus = similar to Mycenaean Treasury of Atrues  Cerveteri tombs were subterranean multi- chambered 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 3 rd 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 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 BCE  Recalls paintings in Egyptian tombs  Rocks resemble those in Theran Spring Fresco mural  Predates the Greek Tomb of the Diver at Paestum