DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0385
368 CHIUSI.—The Cemetery. [chap. li.
ease and power than are usually found in connection with
such signs of antiquity. They seem the work of a man
who could do better things, but who either felt tomb-
painting to be a degradation of his talents, or was re-
strained by conventionalities from the free exercise of
them. These are of later date than most of the paintings
of Tarquinii, yet must be of Etruscan times; they can
hardly belong to the period of Roman domination, still
less, as Inghirami opines, to the decadence of art.8
This tomb was discovered in May 1833, by accident,
while making " bonifications" to the soil. It must have
been rifled in past ages, for nothing but fragments of
pottery and urns was found within it.9
Deposito de' Dei.
On the opposite side of Chiusi, and about three miles
from the tomb just described, is another with paintings so
strikingly similar, that on entering you are ready to abuse
your guide for leading you back to what you have already
seen. The resemblance is not only in subject, mode of
treatment, and style of art, but individual figures are
almost identical, and afford convincing proof that this
tomb and the Tomba del Colle Casuccini were decorated
by the same hand. Even in the plan, number, and arrange-
ments of the chambers, these sepulchres exactly correspond.
But the Deposito de' Dei has suffered more from time; the
surface of the wall has flaked off largely, and the whole
threatens a speedy decay.1
3 Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 26. ' This tomb receives its name from
Illustrations of the scenes in this the family in whose ground it lay.
tomb are given in the Museo Chiusino, Since its discovery in 1826, it has
tav. 181—185. For further notices passed into the hands of Signor Felice
see Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 19, a scq. Giulietti of Chiusi. It lies about two
—Inghirami. mile3 from the city> to t]le north-west,
ease and power than are usually found in connection with
such signs of antiquity. They seem the work of a man
who could do better things, but who either felt tomb-
painting to be a degradation of his talents, or was re-
strained by conventionalities from the free exercise of
them. These are of later date than most of the paintings
of Tarquinii, yet must be of Etruscan times; they can
hardly belong to the period of Roman domination, still
less, as Inghirami opines, to the decadence of art.8
This tomb was discovered in May 1833, by accident,
while making " bonifications" to the soil. It must have
been rifled in past ages, for nothing but fragments of
pottery and urns was found within it.9
Deposito de' Dei.
On the opposite side of Chiusi, and about three miles
from the tomb just described, is another with paintings so
strikingly similar, that on entering you are ready to abuse
your guide for leading you back to what you have already
seen. The resemblance is not only in subject, mode of
treatment, and style of art, but individual figures are
almost identical, and afford convincing proof that this
tomb and the Tomba del Colle Casuccini were decorated
by the same hand. Even in the plan, number, and arrange-
ments of the chambers, these sepulchres exactly correspond.
But the Deposito de' Dei has suffered more from time; the
surface of the wall has flaked off largely, and the whole
threatens a speedy decay.1
3 Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 26. ' This tomb receives its name from
Illustrations of the scenes in this the family in whose ground it lay.
tomb are given in the Museo Chiusino, Since its discovery in 1826, it has
tav. 181—185. For further notices passed into the hands of Signor Felice
see Ann. Inst. 1835, p. 19, a scq. Giulietti of Chiusi. It lies about two
—Inghirami. mile3 from the city> to t]le north-west,