THE ETRUSCANS GARDINER – CHAPTER 9-2 PP

LATER ETRUSCAN ART  5 th century was golden age of Greek art -> but not in Etruria  509 BCE Romans expel their last Etruscan king -> replace the monarchy with republican form of govt  474 BCE Etruscan defeated at sea ending Etruscan dominance of the seas and ending prosperity TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS (“the Arrogant”) - Rome’s last king

CAPITOLINE WOLF  Best known later Etruscan statue, and one of most memorable depictions of an animal in the history of world art  Capitoline Wolf, from Rome, BCE, bronze, 2’ 7” high  Etruscan bronze of she-wolf that nursed the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome  Animal is has a tense, gaunt body, lowered head and neck, alert ears, glaring eyes -> psychic intensity  Suckling infants are 15 th century additions

CHIMERA OF AREZZO  Masterpiece of Etruscan bronze casting -> 1 st half of 4 th century -> from Arezzo, Italy  CHIMERA = Greek monster w/lion’s head and body, serpent’s tail, and goat head growing out of left side  Goat head shows wound inflicted by Greek hero Bellerophon  Muscles tightly stretched over ribs, wounded, preparing to attack, roar coming from open jaws

FICORONI CISTA  4 th century Rome begins conquering Etruscan territory  Ficoroni Cista, from Palestrina, Italy, late 4 th century, 2’ 6” high  Cista = cylindrical container for woman’s toiletry articles  Made of sheet bronze with cast handles and feet and elaborately engraved bodies -> depicts the myth of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece

PORTA MARZIA, PERUGIA  Porta Marzia (Gate of Mars), Perugia, Italy, 2 nd century BCE  Arch has a long history in ancient architecture -> most common in Etruscan and Roman buildings  Arcuated = arch shaped gateway  Pilasters = flat columns -> frame the rounded opening -> Jupiter and his half sons Castor and Pollux and their steeds look out between the pilasters

SARCOPHAGUS OF LARS PULENA  From Tarquinia, Italy, 2 nd century, 6’6” long  Front shows the deceased between 2 death demons swinging hammers -> signals success of journey to afterlife  Late Etruscan sarcophagi are much more somber than Archaic examples  Lars Pulena proudly displays open scroll with a record of his achievements

AULE METELE  Etruscan portrait statue of the magistrate Aule Metele, raising his arm to address an assembly -> modern nickname Arringatore/Orator  1 st century BCE, bronze, 5’7”  This orator is Etruscan in name only -> wears short toga and high laced boots of a Roman magistrate  Aule Metele became Roman and Etruscan art became Roman art