DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0535
chap, xxi.] THE PAINTED TOMB AT VULCI. 429
The figures were as large as life, except Charun, who was hut half
the size.
The style of art was more modern than in any of the tombs of
Tarquinii, not even excepting those of the Cardinal and Pompeys.
These figures were quite Roman in character, and could hardly be
earlier than the frescoes of Pompeii, which they resembled in freedom of
design, truth and nature of the attitudes, and mastery over those diffi-
culties which in every land attend the early stages of art. Yet the
Charun who stood sentinel over this tomb was in a very different and
far earlier style, with all the conventional quaintness of the Etruscan
pencil. So that while he determined the Etruscan and early origin of
this sepulchre, the other figures proved it to have been used in the days
of Roman domination. Another feature of late date was a massive
column of peperino, supporting the ceiling in the centre, and with a
remarkable capital of the composite order, having heads, male and
female, between the volutes. Signor Campanari removed this to Tos-
canella, where it is still to he seen in his garden, (see the engraving at
page 451,) and a copy of it in wood is placed in the British Museum.
This sepulchre seems to represent the lower world,—Charun mounts
guard at the entrance, the king of Hades sits on his throne within ; but
the absence of Furies, or of Genii and Junones, essentially distinguish
this from the infernal scenes in the Pompey and Cardinal tombs of
Tarquinii. The absence of the characteristic features of the Etruscan
mythology, may perhaps be accounted for by regarding these paintings
as the sepulchral decorations of some Roman colonist of Vulci—a view
favoured by the style of art.
The figures were as large as life, except Charun, who was hut half
the size.
The style of art was more modern than in any of the tombs of
Tarquinii, not even excepting those of the Cardinal and Pompeys.
These figures were quite Roman in character, and could hardly be
earlier than the frescoes of Pompeii, which they resembled in freedom of
design, truth and nature of the attitudes, and mastery over those diffi-
culties which in every land attend the early stages of art. Yet the
Charun who stood sentinel over this tomb was in a very different and
far earlier style, with all the conventional quaintness of the Etruscan
pencil. So that while he determined the Etruscan and early origin of
this sepulchre, the other figures proved it to have been used in the days
of Roman domination. Another feature of late date was a massive
column of peperino, supporting the ceiling in the centre, and with a
remarkable capital of the composite order, having heads, male and
female, between the volutes. Signor Campanari removed this to Tos-
canella, where it is still to he seen in his garden, (see the engraving at
page 451,) and a copy of it in wood is placed in the British Museum.
This sepulchre seems to represent the lower world,—Charun mounts
guard at the entrance, the king of Hades sits on his throne within ; but
the absence of Furies, or of Genii and Junones, essentially distinguish
this from the infernal scenes in the Pompey and Cardinal tombs of
Tarquinii. The absence of the characteristic features of the Etruscan
mythology, may perhaps be accounted for by regarding these paintings
as the sepulchral decorations of some Roman colonist of Vulci—a view
favoured by the style of art.