DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0077
introduction.] PAINTED TOMBS OF ETRURIA. lxxvii
The pictorial remains of the Etruscans are of two kinds:—
the scenes on the walls of sepulchres, and those on pottery.
Painted Tombs.
This is a most important class of monuments, for the variety
and interest of the subjects represented, and the light they throw
on the customs, domestic manners, and religious creed of the
Etruscans, as well as on the progress and extent of the pictorial
art among them. We find these " chambers of imagery" chiefly
in the cemeteries of Tarquinii and Clusium, though two have
also been found at Cervetri, and a solitary one at Veii, Bomarzo,
Vulci, and Vetulonia respectively,—all of which will be duly
treated of in the course of this work. They show us Etruscan
art in various periods and stages of excellence, from its infancy
to its perfection; some being coeval, it may be, with the found-
ation of Home, others as late as the Empire; some almost
Egyptian in character, others peculiarly native; some again
decidedly Greek in imitation, if not in execution; others like
the Eoman frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum. There is
the same wide range as exists between the works of Giotto or
Cimabue, and those of Raffaelle or the Caracci. In the tomb of
Veii we have the rudeness and conventionality of very early art—
great exaggeration of anatomy and proportions—and no attempt
to imitate the colouring of nature, but only to arrest the eye
by startling contrasts. In the earliest tombs of Tarquinii,
though of later date, the Egyptian character and physiognomy
are still most strongly pronounced. Of better style are other
tomb-paintings on the same site, which have a native character,
though preserving much conventionality of form and colouring.
And better still are some which breathe of Greece, of the spirit
and feeling of the Hellenic vases, where there is a grace of out-
line, a dignity and simplicity of attitude, and a force of expres-
sion, which prove the limner to have been a master of his art,
though this was not wholly freed from conventional trammels.
Later, more free and careless, are most of the paintings at
some in temples at Ardea and Lanu- art attained, as it seemed not to have
vium, of nearly equal antiquity. He been practised in Trojan times,
remarks on the speedy perfection this
The pictorial remains of the Etruscans are of two kinds:—
the scenes on the walls of sepulchres, and those on pottery.
Painted Tombs.
This is a most important class of monuments, for the variety
and interest of the subjects represented, and the light they throw
on the customs, domestic manners, and religious creed of the
Etruscans, as well as on the progress and extent of the pictorial
art among them. We find these " chambers of imagery" chiefly
in the cemeteries of Tarquinii and Clusium, though two have
also been found at Cervetri, and a solitary one at Veii, Bomarzo,
Vulci, and Vetulonia respectively,—all of which will be duly
treated of in the course of this work. They show us Etruscan
art in various periods and stages of excellence, from its infancy
to its perfection; some being coeval, it may be, with the found-
ation of Home, others as late as the Empire; some almost
Egyptian in character, others peculiarly native; some again
decidedly Greek in imitation, if not in execution; others like
the Eoman frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum. There is
the same wide range as exists between the works of Giotto or
Cimabue, and those of Raffaelle or the Caracci. In the tomb of
Veii we have the rudeness and conventionality of very early art—
great exaggeration of anatomy and proportions—and no attempt
to imitate the colouring of nature, but only to arrest the eye
by startling contrasts. In the earliest tombs of Tarquinii,
though of later date, the Egyptian character and physiognomy
are still most strongly pronounced. Of better style are other
tomb-paintings on the same site, which have a native character,
though preserving much conventionality of form and colouring.
And better still are some which breathe of Greece, of the spirit
and feeling of the Hellenic vases, where there is a grace of out-
line, a dignity and simplicity of attitude, and a force of expres-
sion, which prove the limner to have been a master of his art,
though this was not wholly freed from conventional trammels.
Later, more free and careless, are most of the paintings at
some in temples at Ardea and Lanu- art attained, as it seemed not to have
vium, of nearly equal antiquity. He been practised in Trojan times,
remarks on the speedy perfection this