Short summary for middle school on Etruscan art, by theme or report. Styles, periodization, main themes of Etruscan art.
Etruscan sculpture is inspired by Greek sculpture only aesthetically: for the Etruscans, in fact, it had only two purposes: religious and funerary .
The oldest examples of modelling in the round are the canopic jars (7th and 6th century BC). The vases were used to store the ashes of the deceased, they were 50 cm to 150 cm high and were made of terracotta, bronze, both materials or Bucchero , a type of grey-black ceramic in the working of which the Etruscans were specialists.
The Canopes have an anthropomorphic shape , their faces are rough with very stylised features and bob-shaped hair.
Starting from the 6th century, sarcophagi , made of stone or terracotta, gained importance and were made up of an ark and a lid.
Initially the ark was smooth, but later it was decorated with bas-reliefs with mythological or hunting scenes . The lid instead imitates a triclinium on which the deceased appears lying, almost as if at a banquet. In many of the lids, the figure of the wife appears next to the deceased. The custom was intended to recreate a family environment around the body.
ETRUSCAN VOTIVE AND RELIGIOUS SCULPTURE
In addition to the funerary statues, there are also votive and religious statues:
- The Capitoline Wolf (5th century BC)
A lost-wax bronze casting depicting the snarling beast, with its ears erect and fur bristling to symbolize the animal’s ferocity, in the intentions of the unknown artist. In the 15th century, the twins Romulus and Remus in the act of sucking milk were added by the sculptor Antonio del Pollaiolo. - The Chimera
Found near Arezzo, it represents a mythological monster with the body and head of a lion, the tail of a snake and with a goat’s head on its back that emits flames. Also in this work the ferocity of the monster is rendered by the bristling mane, the gaping jaws, the swollen muscles. Subjected to many restorations, the last in 1785 distorted its meaning, the snake that probably lunged at the opponent at whom the lion was growling, now seems to bite the goat’s head. - The Orator
Life-size bronze portrait of the Etruscan patrician Aulus Metellus . The statue does not respect classical proportions at all, but the broad gesture of the right hand and the severity of the face still convey to us the great dignity of the character.
