1847,] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



305 



It is to be noticed that the Eiruscaa artists studiously strive to introduce 

 as much variety as possible in the treatment. While a general symmetry 

 of arrangement is preserved, each figure is put in a differeut dress or atti- 

 tade. So, too, the details are varied. If one dancer is in blue, another is 

 ID red ; if one has a shawl, another has a cloak, and so forth. In the Left 

 Tomb of Tarquiuii, the figures of the dancers are separated by trees, on 

 which are birds or animals ; but there is a different set for each tree. 



At one end of the couches is the chief musician, playing on the double 

 tibia or pipes. This seems to have been the great instrument of the 

 Etruscans, as it was afterwards with the Romans. It is introduced, like- 

 wise, in the Left Tomb of Tarquinii. The instruments shown are the 

 double tibia, the lyre, and the castanets. In each subject are two players 

 of the double tibia. 



On the left baud are three male and three female dancers, and as many 

 on the right hand. One of these latter plays the double pipe. The figures 

 are separated by branches of trees. The men are without shoes, and with 

 no garment but a waistcloth. 



On the right-hand side is an elegant table with three white vases and 

 one red one. This is a pleasing furniture group. 



The upper compartment of this tomb contains a great number of groups 

 and figures of small size, engaijed in public games, and with two stands 

 for spectators. The stand has a platform, on which are the chief per- 

 sonages, men and women. Underneath are some men lying down. The 

 costumes of the spectators show a greater variety of fashions than the 

 banquet; some of the men have beards, and some are without; some of 

 the women are dressed in white. 



The games represent leaping, running, chariot races, hurling the discus, 

 boxing, and the armed course, which are painted in a lively manner. 



In a kind of pediment above is a large vase, and two persons at an 

 entertainment. 



The entrance to this tomb is adorned with two panthers. 



The Left Tomb of Tarquinii only includes one subject— a banquet ; but 

 the costumes are much richer. To this belongs the female figure already 

 closely described. Here, likewise, the chief personages are three couple 

 seated on couches ; but the arrangement is different, one of the couches 

 being turned lengthwise at right angles. This gives the opportunity of 

 seeing the finish of the end — and indeed the design and finish of the 

 couches are well worthy of study, showing fitness, lightness, and elegance. 

 Here are two small tables or stands, exquisitely finished, on which are 

 placed the refreshments. A female attendant is standing. A naked page 

 holds in his hand a percolated vase or wine-strainer. Male and female 

 attendants seem to have been employed at entertainments. Two of the 

 lady guesis wear a red veil. The whole of the guests are wreathed either 

 with ivy or laurel. Under the couches is a panther, a cock, and a hen. 

 The cock is a very gay piece of painting, and is another exa!iiple of the 

 attention to details. The panther seems to have been a great favourite of 

 the Etruscans, and here and elsewhere is frequently introduced. He was 

 of course, tamed. The men in this group wear short beards, whereas, in 

 the olherTarquinian tomb, the guests are beardless. On the left of the 

 couches stands the player of the double tibia. 



On the left-hand side are two male and three female dancers. One of 

 the men is playing the lyre. On the right-hand side are likewise two 

 male and three female dancers. One of the men plajs tlie double tibia, 

 and one of the women the castanets, or rather bones. At each end is a 

 man, mounted either on a mule or horse. Each figure of the side groups 

 is se;iarated by a tree, chiefly laurel, having sometimes a flower at the 

 bottom. On the branches, and Oyiug around the trees, are birds of gaudy 

 plumage. On some of the trees beasts are drawn, as the panther, rabbit, 

 and fox. These latter are painted spotted, like the panther. One of the 

 panthers is climbing a tree, like a cat or a monkey. The men dancers 

 wear blue mawds, and the women dancers red mawds. The fancv dis- 

 played in the arrangement of all the details is well worthy of note. The 

 drapery is likewise pleasing. 



The Left Tomb at Vulci, which has Etruscan inscriptions, is of a more 

 oriental character in the features of the people. There are no women in 

 this subject, and the figures are employed in public games, as leaping, 

 running, horse-racing, &c. Some of the men wear a cap, like that of the 

 women in the Right Tarquinian Tomb. The Vulci Tomb was discovered 

 in 1S32. 



The Right Tomb at Vulci is difl'erent from all the others in subject' 

 style, treatment, and physiognomy. The personages, who are more of a 

 Greek or Pelasgic character, are closely draped in cloaks of one colour, 

 as blue, without ornaments or trimming, — more closely approaching what 

 from our sculptural impressions is conventionally required as antique, than 

 the gay and lively costumes of Tarquinii. This tomb, however, had a 

 chequered ceiling, like those of the Tarquinian tombs. These ceilings are 

 of a peculiar character, and are executed in various colours, showing, as 

 usual, much fancy in the arrangement. 



The paintings of the Etruscan Charon are coarse, and seem conventional 

 caricatures or grotesques, quite different from the portrait-like character of 

 the other designs. 



The Etruscan paintings will well repay inspection, and are some of the 

 best illustrations we have of ancient manners. The student who wants a 

 comment on Homer will best find it here, and after perusing the book of 

 games, he cannot do better than see them depicted in detail in the Right 

 Tarquinian Tomb or Left I'omb of Vulci. The banquet scenes are fair 

 illustrations of Roman life. Etruscan vases and Etruscan dancers, the 

 double flute and the lyre, were to be seen at Roman banquets, where the 

 guests likewise reclined. M^hat is given merely in form in bas-reliefs is 

 here given in form and colour ; and what is in sculpture performed by the 

 artist from imagination, long after the event, is here painted to the life from 

 the men and women as they breathed and moved and dressed. Certainly, 

 the Elgin frieze gives us a tamer idea of Athenian life, though executed 

 under the eye of a Phidias, than the weaker paintings of the Etruscans do 

 of Etruscau life. 



In an artistical point of view, there is a benefit in studying the works of 

 a refined people, for so the Etruscans were. They possessed a literature, 

 and inscriptions were common on public works, showing that reading was 

 generally difl'used. Their dresses, manners, and games show that they 

 possessed wealth and cultivation, and the works they have left us are 

 ample proofs of their advanced taste and of their love of the pictorial arts. 

 Music and dancing were advanced to the rank of arts. It is always useful 

 to contemplate and analyse the progress of a people who had less ad- 

 vantages than ourselves. 



The sculptured tombs in the lower part of the Museum do not show so 

 favourably as the paintings, though they exhibit traces of artistic develop- 

 ment. They are generally carved in soft, bad stone, and some are in 

 coarse clay ; yet, even in these, there is an attention to anatomy, to draw- 

 ing, and to drapery, which draws our notice. Some of the reclining 

 figures show considerable care in the arrangement of the muscles of the 

 back. In the paintings, minute anatomical dravving is not attempted, but 

 in the Right Tomb from Vulci the muscles of the abdomen are drawn in 

 the Greek style iu the figure of Pluto, which is only half-draped. From 

 their progress in painting, from their sound principles of art, and from the 

 indications in the rude sculptured works we have, we may rest assured 

 that these lat'.er are not fair samples of Etruscan art; and we may expect, 

 that though most of the finer works have perished by the elTect of time or 

 by the hands of the Romans, that more favourable specimens will yet be 

 discovered. 



The vases commonly called Etruscan, are now brought together in the 

 Etruscan Room, and arranged, which was very needful, for during some 

 years they remamed in a deplorable stale of confusion, so that it was 

 impossible for the student to get any benefit from them. 



The vases are now arranged chronologically and according to the locali- 

 ties iu which they are found. They form six groups, besides a collection 

 of terracottas, chiefly Etruscan. 



The first group consists of vases of heavy black ware, some with rude 

 figures upon them in low relief, the work of tlie ancient Etruscans. These 

 are mostly found at Cervetri or Ca^re. 



The second group includes the vases called Nolan-Egyptian or Phoeni- 

 ciaa, with pale backgrounds and figures in a reddish maroon colour. The 

 figures are chiefly those of animaL=;. These vases are mostly found at 

 Nola. 



The third group contains early vases with black figures upon red or 

 orange grounds. These are rich in mythological subjects. These vases 

 are found at Vulci, Canino, and the Ponle della Kadia, to the north of 

 Rome. 



The fourth group is formed of vases more carefully finished. The dis- 

 tricts from which these are obtained are Canino and Nola. 



The fifth group is a later class of works, more slovenly painted. The 

 subjects relate chiefly to Bacchus. The vases are got from the province of 



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