SCULPTURE. 11 
FE. The Etruscans. 
Although the art of the Etruscans at a somewhat advgnced period 
adopted a good deal from the Greeks, still we find among them at aso much 
earlier date a tolerably advanced and original style of art, that we are 
compelled to consider it independently before directing our attention to 
classical antiquity properly so called. 
The Etruscans were an industrious people, of a bold, enterprising spirit ; 
and the structures reared by them, which long before the time of the 
Romans were equally remarkable for their extent and for the architectural 
skill displayed in them, are still partially preserved to us in their mighty 
ruins. It was with the aid of the Etruscans that the Romans began their 
buildings ; Etruscans laid their walls; Etruscans constructed their canals; 
and the Roman houses were planned after the mode long in use among the 
Etruscans. The art of constructing arches with stones hewn into a wedge- 
like shape was also known to and practised by the Etruscans; although 
most of their walls were of a Cyclopean character, or built of polygonal 
stones. 
The clearest idea of the degree of perfection reached by the plastic arts 
among the Etruscans is furnished by their works in burnt clay, of which a 
quantity have come down to us; and although many are formed after the 
Greek manner, there are many others which exhibit a distinct, well 
developed native style. Everywhere in them we discern a certain 
preference for plastic ornament. This preference is displayed in the form 
of the antefixee, the acroteria, and the reliefs and statues in the pediments 
of the temples. The Etruscans even executed colossal figures in burnt 
clay; witness the quadriga on the Capitoline temple, and the statue of 
Jupiter in the same, both of which were formed of burnt clay. 
Along with this branch of plastics, properly so called, we find that the 
Etruscans possessed the art of brass-founding; and they had both bronze 
colossi and little statuettes, many of which have come down to us; and 
bronze statues, which they knew how to gild, adorned the temples and their 
pediments. In addition to casting there was practised the art of chasing 
(toreutics) ; and this enabled them to produce embossed works in gold and 
silver, which were among the articles most eagerly sought after even during 
the most flourishing period of art in Athens and in Rome. Among these 
we reckon candelabra, goblets, mirrors, shields, chairs, trestles, &c., &e. 
Carved works in ivory also come from Etruria. The art of sculpturing 
stone in relief seems not to have been extensively practised; for but few of 
the extant specimens of that class of sculptures exhibit the careful and firm 
handling to which we are accustomed in the productions of the flourishing 
period of Etrurian art. Most of these ancient remains that have been 
found in the country in recent times belong to a much later and degenerate 
period of art, probably to the times of the Roman domination. J. 1, jigs. 
7, 8, are fragments of Etruscan sarcophagi ; these were usually of alabaster, 
tufaceous limestone, travertine, and sometimes of burnt clay; and were 
adorned with bas-reliefs, which mostly pertain to the tragic mythology, 
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