DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0068
lxviii DIFFERENT STYLES OF ETRUSCAN ART. [introduction.
whether from increased intercourse with. Greece, or from the
natural progress common to all civilized countries, Etruscan
art stepped out of the conventionalities which confined it, and
assumed a more energetic character, more like the Greek than
the Egyptian, yet still rigid, hard, and dry, rather akin to the
iEginetic than the Athenian school, displaying more force than
beauty, more vigour than grace, better intention than ability of
execution, an exaggerated, not a truthful representation of
nature. It was only when the triumph of Greek art was com-
plete, and the world acknowledged the transcendency of Hel-
lenic genius, that Etruria became its humble disciple, and
imitated—copied sometimes to servility—the grand works of
the Greek chisel and peneil. A distinctive national character
is, however, generally preserved.6 Thus the three styles into
which Etruscan art may be divided are—1st, The Egyptian,
which has also Babylonian analogies; 2nd, The Etruscan, or
Tyrrhene, as it is sometimes called, perhaps in compliment to
its more than doubtful Greek character; 3rd, The Hellenic.
To these might be added a fourth—that of the Decadence.
This classification pertains to all the imitative arts of the
Etruscans. Of these the working in clay was the most ancient,'
as moulding naturally precedes casting, chiselling, or painting.
For their works in terra-cotta the Etruscans were renowned in
ancient times,8 and early Rome contained numerous specimens
rigid and rectilinear Etruscan style was II. p. 186. Very similar in style are
not necessarily imported from the Nile ; the few works of Volscian art preserved
but that nature in the infancy of art to us, if indeed these he not Etruscan,
taught it alike to the Egyptians, Greeks, either imported, or executed when the
and Etruscans, for it was not so much land of the Volsci was subject to Etruria.
art, as the want of art. See the singular painted reliefs in terra-
6 The specimens of Etruscan art that cotta, found at Velletri in 1784, and
have come down to us confirm the asser- illustrated by Becchetti, and by Inghi-
tion of Quintilian (XII. 10), that the rami, Mon. Etrus. VI. tav. T 4—X 4 ;
statues of Etruria differed from those of cf. Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. tav. LXI.
Greece in hind, just as the eloquence of 1 Plin. XXXIV. 16. The Etruscans
an Asiatic did from that of an Athenian. have even the renown of being the
The Etruscan style, says Lanzi, was the inventors of the plastic arts. Clem,
primary and almost only one in Italy ; Alex. Strom. I. p. 306.
it seems as though the artists made 8 Preeterea elaboratam hanc artem
choice, as was said of Michel Angelo, of Italise, et maxime Etrurise. Plin.
the most difficult attitudes, in order to XXXV. 45.
make their works tell more effectively.
whether from increased intercourse with. Greece, or from the
natural progress common to all civilized countries, Etruscan
art stepped out of the conventionalities which confined it, and
assumed a more energetic character, more like the Greek than
the Egyptian, yet still rigid, hard, and dry, rather akin to the
iEginetic than the Athenian school, displaying more force than
beauty, more vigour than grace, better intention than ability of
execution, an exaggerated, not a truthful representation of
nature. It was only when the triumph of Greek art was com-
plete, and the world acknowledged the transcendency of Hel-
lenic genius, that Etruria became its humble disciple, and
imitated—copied sometimes to servility—the grand works of
the Greek chisel and peneil. A distinctive national character
is, however, generally preserved.6 Thus the three styles into
which Etruscan art may be divided are—1st, The Egyptian,
which has also Babylonian analogies; 2nd, The Etruscan, or
Tyrrhene, as it is sometimes called, perhaps in compliment to
its more than doubtful Greek character; 3rd, The Hellenic.
To these might be added a fourth—that of the Decadence.
This classification pertains to all the imitative arts of the
Etruscans. Of these the working in clay was the most ancient,'
as moulding naturally precedes casting, chiselling, or painting.
For their works in terra-cotta the Etruscans were renowned in
ancient times,8 and early Rome contained numerous specimens
rigid and rectilinear Etruscan style was II. p. 186. Very similar in style are
not necessarily imported from the Nile ; the few works of Volscian art preserved
but that nature in the infancy of art to us, if indeed these he not Etruscan,
taught it alike to the Egyptians, Greeks, either imported, or executed when the
and Etruscans, for it was not so much land of the Volsci was subject to Etruria.
art, as the want of art. See the singular painted reliefs in terra-
6 The specimens of Etruscan art that cotta, found at Velletri in 1784, and
have come down to us confirm the asser- illustrated by Becchetti, and by Inghi-
tion of Quintilian (XII. 10), that the rami, Mon. Etrus. VI. tav. T 4—X 4 ;
statues of Etruria differed from those of cf. Micali, Ant. Pop. Ital. tav. LXI.
Greece in hind, just as the eloquence of 1 Plin. XXXIV. 16. The Etruscans
an Asiatic did from that of an Athenian. have even the renown of being the
The Etruscan style, says Lanzi, was the inventors of the plastic arts. Clem,
primary and almost only one in Italy ; Alex. Strom. I. p. 306.
it seems as though the artists made 8 Preeterea elaboratam hanc artem
choice, as was said of Michel Angelo, of Italise, et maxime Etrurise. Plin.
the most difficult attitudes, in order to XXXV. 45.
make their works tell more effectively.