Chapter III
., regarding the use of clay in general in classical times.
But there are some features of work in terracotta which are peculiar to this people. For their extensive use of this material we are quite prepared by the evidence of the pottery found in their tombs, which shows that they understood the processes of manufacture perfectly, even if they failed in their attempts at decoration. As we shall see, they employed it constantly, not only for finer works of art, but for ordinary and more utilitarian purposes. This we know not only from the existing remains, but from many passages of ancient writers, who speak of the Etruscan preference for clay and their skill in its use.
Pliny, in particular, speaks of the art of modelling in clay as “brought to perfection in Italy, and especially in Etruria.”[2337] He attributes its introduction to the three craftsmen whom Demaratos brought with him from Corinth in the seventh century B.C.—Eucheir, Eugrammos, and Diopos—whom he styles _fictores_.[2338] This story of its origin need not, of course, be implicitly believed; nor, on the other hand, need the statement of Tatian,[2339] who, followed in modern times by Campana and other Italian writers, claimed for Italy a priority over Greece in the art of making terracotta figures. For their statues the Etruscans certainly seem to have preferred clay to any other material. Although few of these have descended to us, there are many passages in Roman literature which imply their excellence, and it is chiefly from these that our knowledge of Etruscan statues in terracotta is derived. The Romans, unable themselves to execute such works, were obliged to employ Etruscan artists for the decoration of their temples, as in the notable instance of that of Jupiter on the Capitol. A certain Volca of Veii[2340] was employed by Tarquinius Priscus, about 509 B.C., to make the statue of the god, which was of colossal proportions, and was painted vermilion, the colour being solemnly renewed from time to time. The same artist made the famous chariot on the pediment of the temple, which, instead of contracting in the furnace, swelled to such an extent that the roof had to be taken off. This circumstance was held to prognosticate the future greatness of Rome.[2341] Volca also made a figure of Hercules in the Forum Boarium, and we read that Numa consecrated a statue of Janus[2342]; but the material in the latter case is not actually specified as terracotta.
Pliny goes on to say that such statues existed in many places even in his day. He also speaks of numerous temples in Rome and other towns with remarkable sculptured pediments and cornices; the existing remains of some of these will presently be discussed. There is no doubt that the use of terracotta for the external decoration of temples was even more general in Etruria than in Greece; and, whereas in Greece it ceased in the fifth century, in Etruria it lasted down to Roman times. The use of bricks in Etruria seems to have belonged entirely to the time when it had lost its independence, under Roman dominion. For instance, the brick walls of Arretium, which are highly spoken of by Pliny and Vitruvius,[2343] do not belong to the Etruscan, but to the later city; and although Gell alleged that he saw tufa walls with a substructure of tiling at Veii, Dennis sought for these in vain[2344]; even a pier of a bridge resting on tiles which he found there proved to be later work. For buildings and for tombs the principal material seems to have been tufa, but the tiles of the roofs were probably of terracotta, as were sometimes those used for covering tombs.[2345]
Etruscan temples were also largely built of wood, with a covering of terracotta slabs, as the evidence of recent excavations shows. This method of decoration, which, as we saw in a previous chapter (Vol. I. p. 100), was largely practised in Italy and Sicily, and even spread thence to Greece, as at Olympia, is not alluded to by Vitruvius in his description of Etruscan temples (iv. 7), although he speaks of the wooden construction of the roofs; but he alludes to _antepagmenta_ fixed on the front of the temples, which may refer to the terracotta slabs.[2346] Earlier restorations made after his descriptions are imperfect in this respect, only regarding construction and not decorative effect.[2347] It is at any rate clear that the roof had a pediment on the front only, the other three sides projecting over and forming eaves, round which hung the pendent slabs (see below); they were not required in front because of the portico. Araeostyle temples, the same writer tells us, had wooden architraves and pediments, ornamented with sculpture in terracotta. The cinerary urns often supply evidence as to the construction of the roofs, with their exact imitation of tiles.
We have now remains of at least four temples built in this method, or, rather, of their terracotta decoration: from Cervetri in Berlin, from Civita Lavinia in the British Museum (Plates II.-III.), from Alatri (1882), and from Falerii or Civita Castellana (1886).[2348] Other remains of architectural terracotta work come from Orvieto,[2349] Pitigliano,[2350] and Luni (see below), and from Conca or Satricum,[2351] the latter being chiefly antefixal ornaments of the ordinary Italian types. The Cervetri remains consist of roof-tiles, antefixal ornaments with figures in relief in front, and friezes with chariots and warriors.[2352] Portions of a similar frieze from the same site are in the British Museum,[2353] as are also three antefixes in the same style as one in Berlin from Cervetri (Plate LIX.).[2354] They belong to the fifth century, and illustrate a later development from the ordinary archaic type—idealised female heads or heads of Satyrs with rich polychrome decoration. Another example in Berlin appears to represent Juno Sospita.[2355] The friezes are a good example of the Italo-Ionic style of the end of the sixth century, the points of comparison with the Chalcidian and other B.F. vases being particularly noteworthy.[2356]
But for information on the form of the Etruscan temple these are too fragmentary to be of any use. The remains from Alatri, Civita Castellana, and Civita Lavinia are much more illuminating. The last-named, of which some description has already been given (Vol. I. p. 101), are partly archaic, partly of the fourth century, the two former wholly of the later date; but allowing for differences of style, the general arrangement was in all cases practically the same. The front of the temple was in the form of a pediment supported on columns, with ornamental raking cornices, and _akroteria_ in the form of figures or groups. Along the sides and back ran gutters, with lion-head spouts at intervals, faced by upright cornices, with pendent plates of terracotta, or “barge-boards” hanging free and ornamented with patterns in relief. These were for protection against weather, like the edgings to the roofs of Swiss châlets and modern railway stations. The practice was quite un-Greek, and peculiar to Etruria. The antefixal ornaments were continued along the sides above the cornice. The architraves were also ornamented with terracotta slabs, on which were palmette patterns; and thus the whole formed a rich and continuous system of terracotta plating which completely covered the woodwork of the architraves and roof. All the slabs were ornamented with coloured patterns in relief, or simply painted on a white slip, such as maeanders, tongue, scale-pattern, lotos-flowers, or various forms of the palmette.
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PLATE LIX
[Illustration:
1. ETRUSCAN ANTEFIX (FIFTH CENT.) 2. ETRUSCAN SARCOPHAGUS (THIRD CENT.) (BRITISH MUSEUM). ]
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The existing remains of Etruscan monumental sculpture in clay are, as has been indicated, not large. Some of the architectural antefixes are almost important enough to be included under this head, especially those in the form of figures or groups modelled almost in the round. These belong mostly to the fifth century B.C., and the finest example is the group in the Berlin Museum from the Cervetri find already mentioned, representing Eos carrying off Kephalos[2357]; it is in the style of about 480 B.C. A smaller but still very effective example is the antefix from Civita Lavinia in the British Museum, representing a Satyr and Maenad awaiting the advent of Dionysos (Plate II.).[2358] With these must be reckoned the sculptured friezes from Cervetri in the British and Berlin Museums, and the reliefs on the British Museum sarcophagus from the same site.[2359] In all these the same prevalence of Ionic Greek influence may be observed, which is characteristic of so much Etruscan work of the late archaic period, both in terracotta and bronze, as in the reliefs of the Polledrara bust.[2360] This influence, which is due to the strong Hellenic element in the civilisation of Caere and the Campanian cities, we have also seen at work in the vase-paintings of the period.[2361]
One of the earliest instances, and perhaps the most remarkable, of Etruscan clay modelling in the round, for its size and execution, is the group on the top of the famous sarcophagus in the British Museum (Fig. 183).[2362] The figures, a man and woman reclining on a couch, are life-size, of somewhat slender proportions, with smiling features, the drapery of the woman stiff and formal. Sir Charles Newton has described the style as “archaic, the treatment throughout very naturalistic, in which a curious striving after truth in anatomical details gives animation to the group, in spite of the extreme ungainliness of form and ungraceful composition.” The same difficulties that beset the sculptor of the Polledrara bust, in working in the round instead of relief, are visible here; and the contrast with the Hellenic style of the reliefs round the lower part is very marked. There are similar sarcophagi in the Louvre, and in the Museo Papa Giulio at Rome.[2363] M. Martha notes in regard to the figures on the former that the faces are remarkable for individuality and precision of type, but the limbs are stiff and rude. This is not an infrequent feature of early Greek art.[2364] Signor Savignoni claims these three monuments as purely Ionic Greek work, but repudiates much of the British Museum sarcophagus as un-antique.
[Illustration: FIG. 183. ARCHAIC TERRACOTTA SARCOPHAGUS (BRITISH MUSEUM).]
Of later sculpture in terracotta the instances are comparatively few, by far the best being the pedimental sculptures from Luni in Northern Tuscany, discovered in 1842, and now at Florence.[2365] Their date is about 200 B.C., and they include figures of the Olympian deities, Muses, and a group of Apollo and Artemis slaying the Niobides. A few remains of similar figures were found at Orvieto.[2366]
[Illustration:
FIG. 184. PAINTED TERRACOTTA SLAB FROM TOMB (LOUVRE). ]
It may be convenient to speak here of a small group of monuments in terracotta which illustrate in an interesting manner the achievements of Etruscan painting in the archaic period. This is a series of terracotta slabs, which were inserted into the walls of small tombs at Cervetri to receive the painted decoration which the Etruscans considered such an important feature of their sepulchral arrangements.[2367] Two sets have been found, one of which is in the Louvre, the other in the British Museum; both are of similar character, and belong to the beginning of the sixth century, but the style varies in some degree. Fig. 184 gives one of the slabs in the Louvre.
The surface of the slabs was covered with the usual white slip or λεύκωμα of early Greek paintings,[2368] on which the designs were sketched with a point and filled in with red and black outlines or washes. The white ground was left for the flesh of women and for white drapery, the flesh of the men being coloured red. Of the two the Louvre slabs seem the more advanced, and more directly under Ionic influence, while the others are more provincial in character. The Caeretan hydriae seem to have left some traces on the former, and in the latter it is interesting to note the use of borders of white dots for the drapery, such as we see on the Daphnae vases (Vol. I. p. 352).
These paintings may also be compared with those in the Grotta Campana at Veii (Vol. I. p. 39), which, in spirit at any rate, if not in date, are the oldest examples of Etruscan painting, while still under Oriental influence. But not being works in terracotta, they do not strictly concern us here.
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Although the more important sarcophagi of the Etruscans were made of alabaster, tufa, and peperino, a considerable number, principally of small size, were of terracotta. All of these belong to a late stage of Etruscan art. Some few were large enough to receive a body laid at full length. Two large sarcophagi, from a tomb at Vulci, now in the British Museum, may be taken as typical.[2369] The lower part, which held the body, is shaped like a rectangular bin or trough, about three feet high and as many wide. On the covers are recumbent Etruscan women, modelled at full length. One has both its cover and chest divided into two portions, probably because it was found that masses of too large a size failed in the baking. The edges at the point of division are turned up, like flange tiles. These have on their fronts in one case dolphins, in the other branches of trees, incised with a tool in outline. Other sarcophagi of the same dimensions are imitations of the larger ones of stone. Many of the smaller sort, which held the ashes of the dead, are of the same shape, the body being a small rectangular chest, while the cover presents a figure of the deceased in a reclining posture. They generally have in front a composition in relief, freely modelled in the later style of Etruscan art, the subject being often of funeral import: such as the last farewell to the dead; combats of heroes (Plate LIX.), especially that of Eteokles and Polyneikes; a battle in which an unarmed hero is fighting with a ploughshare[2370]; the parting of Admetos and Alkestis in the presence of Death and Charun; and the slaying of the dragon by Kadmos at the fountain of Ares.[2371] Some few have a painted roof. All these were painted in _tempera_ upon a white ground, in bright and vivid tones, producing a gaudy effect. The inscriptions were also traced in paint, and rarely incised. A good and elaborate example of the colouring of terracotta occurs in the recumbent figure on a small sarcophagus in the British Museum (Plate LIX.).[2372] Here the flesh is red, the eyes black, the hair red, the wreath green, and the drapery of the figure is white, with purple and crimson borders; the phiale which the figure holds is yellow (to imitate gilding), and the cushions on which he reclines are red and blue. This system of colouring is maintained to an even greater degree in the relief on the front of the sarcophagus, the subject of which is a combat of five warriors. The background is coloured indigo, and every detail is rendered in colour, except the nude parts, which are covered with a white slip throughout. The pigments employed are red, yellow, black, green, and purple, and the inscription above is painted in brown on white, all the colours being marvellously fresh and well preserved; but the general effect is gaudy, fantastic, and scarcely appropriate. It may also be said in regard to the whole series that the subjects are monotonous and unpleasing, and the compositions crowded to excess.
By far the finest example of these terracotta sarcophagi is one found at Cervetri not many years ago, now in the British Museum (Plate LX.).[2373] It is known from the inscription in front to be the last resting-place of a lady named Seianti Thanunia, whose effigy, life-size, adorns the top—a most realistic specimen of Etruscan portrait-sculpture, and in splendid preservation. Within the lower part her skeleton is still preserved, together with a series of silver utensils. A very similar specimen, that of Larthia Seianti, is in the Museum at Florence,[2374] and from the coins found therewith the date of these two may be fixed at about 150 B.C. The figure of the lady was cast in two halves, the joint being below the hips; she is represented as a middle-aged matron, her head veiled in a mantle which she draws aside with her right hand. In her left she holds a mirror in an open case; she wears a _sphendone_ in her hair, and much jewellery. On the right arm are bracelets, and on the left hand six rings, the bezels of which are painted purple to imitate sard-stones; in her ears are pendants painted to imitate amber set in gold. The nude parts are painted flesh-colour, and colouring is freely employed throughout, the cushions being painted in stripes. The dimensions of the sarcophagus itself are 6 ft. by 2 ft. by 1 ft. 4 in.; it has no reliefs on the front, but is ornamented with pilasters, triglyphs, and quatrefoils.
For antefixal ornaments, masks, and the decoration of the smaller sarcophagi and other products of ordinary industry, the clay seems to have been invariably made in the form of a mould; but for the larger sarcophagi and the Canopic figures a rough clay model was made by hand and itself baked. Probably both processes were employed concurrently—large statues, for instance, being made in several pieces; in these it will generally be noted that the head and torso are modelled more carefully than the limbs.
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PLATE LX
[Illustration: SARCOPHAGUS OF SEIANTI THANUNIA (SECOND CENT. B.C.) (BRIT. MUS.)]
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M. Martha[2375] explains the invariable colouring of Etruscan terracottas on the supposition that the Etruscans did not profess to make figures in this material, but looked down on it as a common substance, to be concealed wherever possible. However this may be, the polychromy was not only a necessary artifice, but an admirable means of imparting life and realism to the figures. In the archaic period there is much less variety, yellow, red, brown, and black being the only colours employed as a rule.[2376] The dark red pigment usually applied for flesh-colour on the sarcophagi may suggest the _minium_ with which the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus was smeared. In later work the tints are lighter and much more varied, as we have seen, and this is especially noticeable on the figures from the Luni pediments, in which rose, yellow, green, and blue are employed with the same delicate _nuances_ that we see in the Tanagra figures.
§ 3. SOUTHERN ITALY
In dealing with the indigenous non-Hellenic people of Southern Italy and their pottery, we are almost more at a disadvantage than in regard to the Etruscans. The peoples are almost unknown to us, and are vaguely characterised as “Iapygian,” “Messapian,” “Oscan,” and so on; but this does not really carry us much further. Moreover, this part of Italy has never been scientifically or thoroughly excavated, like Etruria, and even where finds have been made they are small and poor; nothing of very remote date appears to have come to light, and very few early Greek importations. Hence there has been until quite recently no attempt made at a scientific study of the pottery, or even to distinguish local from imported wares; in Heydemann’s catalogue of the Naples vases it is practically ignored. Recently, however, Herr Max Mayer, and Signor Patroni, whose laudable investigations of the Graeco-Italian vases have already received attention (