Etruscian - AP Art History notes (Italy) 🇮🇹

The Etruscans values gender equality and always looks forward to every individual’s afterlife.

About Etruscan Architect 🏛🇮🇹

Floor plan:

Contains only 1 entrance and a patio.

shares only a few similarities with Greeks. (frieze and pediment roof - Parthenon at Athens, Greece). 🏛

Greeks have decorated frieze; Etruscians don’t have decorated frieze.

  • 3 Chella; dedicated to gods.

Similarities

frieze

pediment

archaic smile

stylized hair (traditional braids)

wet drapery

contrapposto

capitals

chellas

columns

Differences (Etruscian)

sculptures are placed on top

plain frieze

terracotta

^^(6:5) ratio^^ (Greeks used (9:4) - y(x) + 1).

central staircase

Key people:

  • Vitruvius

    Vitruvius the architect, recorder of Ancient Mediterranean architecture^^Vitruvius did not build the Temple of Minerva; He witnessed and recorded it’s architect.^^

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Temple of Minerva + Apollo Veii (Veii, Italy) 🏛🇮🇹

Temple of Minerva 🏛

The Temple of Minerva has many architectural inspirations from the Greeks. Most notable examples are:

  • Frieze
  • Columns
  • Pediments
  • Elevated platform ^^(similar to the White Temple Ziggurat in Uruk)^^
  • Chellas
  • Portico (front patio/porch)

Notable differences:

Unlike the Greeks, Etruscan temples only have 1 entrance.

  • 1 central-axis entrance, only in Etruscan temple architecture.
  • plain friezes (friezes are not decorated)
  • pediment sculptures (sculptures are placed on top of the pediment)

Temple of MinervaNarrative: Etruscans usually refer to the Greek gods by their Roman names. ^^(Apollo still stays the same for both).^^

Minverva (Roman) 🫒 = Athena (Greek) 🇬🇷

Materials: wood, tufa (lava bricks), mudbricks.

  • Architect Vitruvius recorded the architecture of the Temple of Minerva.

Apollo Veii (sculpture) 🐎

The Apollo Veii sculpture is placed on the pediment of the Temple of Minerva.

  • Sculpture took inspiration from the Archaic style (Greeks).
  • Possibly sculpted by ^^Vulca of Veii?^^
  • Was discovered with missing arms (arms indicates movement; could be holding chariot whips)
  • Apollo Veii was placed on a chariot on top of the pediment.

About Apollo Veii: The creation of Apollo Veii was sculpted and wielded sections (terracotta pieces).

  • Apollo Veii was also painted.

Materials: terracotta, paint.

Apollo Veii is also stylized face and hair, has an archaic smile, wet drapery and contrapposto.

  • ^^Apollo Veii is fully clothed unlike Greek Archaic art work.^^

Apollo of VeiiSince Apollo is placed on the pediment of the temple; Apollo is leaning forward so that the viewer below can see Apollo.

Sarcophagus of the Spouses (Cerveti, Italy) 🇮🇹

A life-sized sarcophagus ^^repository^^ that only ^^holds the^^ ^^ashes^^ ^^of the deceased;^^ ^^not^^ ^^the body.^^

  • Usually created for deceased spouses; a portraiture of the spouses depicted.

analysis: the husband’s arms are usually wrapped around the wife (and sometimes holding a piece of food); the wife is shown to hold food - banquet afterlife. ^^This sarcophagus acts as a^^ ^^repository^^ ^^for ashes.^^

  • equality between the husband and wife (affectionate, sharing food at the banquet).
  • ^^representative of Etruscan relationships and gender equality (^^^^Avant Garde^^^^).^^

materials/techniques:

  • terracotta sections + kilns (made by pieces)
  • ^^archaic smile^^^^,^^ ^^stylized^^
  • ^^portraiture^^ of the deceased (personally customized; first half is made in advanced; second half contains personalized portraiture)
  • ^^Avant Garde^^ ^^(ahead of it’s time).^^

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Sarcophagus of the Spouses

  • Romans took inspiration and made their own sarcophagus to a singular portraiture

    Roman sarcophagi

Tomb of the Triclinium - Subterranean Necropolis (Cerveteri, Italy - above Rome) 🇮🇹

The Tomb of Triclinium is important because the Etruscans have a different depiction of the afterlife. Unlike the Egyptians, ^^Etruscans believe that the afterlife is full of eternal happiness and not of judgment.^^

  • named after the triclinium tables discovered at the sight.
  • Also called a Necropolis (City of the Dead).

Tomb of the Triclinium

Triclinium: three-legged table.

  • ^^eating while lounging is a tradition special to Etruscan culture.^^

Ancient Triclinium

Architecture:

  • circular structure + dome on top
  • niches (to hold sarcophagus)
  • polychrome ceilings
  • fresco - plaster and paint on walls.
  • ^^subterranean^^ ^^(underground); necropolis (means city of the dead; burial site for the deceased).^^

genre scenes of people lounging in couches and eating; depiction of what the Etruscan believe was the afterlife (full of music, food, and happiness).

  • ^^Fresco^^ ^^walls depict Etruscan playing instruments, dancing, lounging on their couches and eating banquets^^

polychrome: many colors; painted, printed, or decorated in several colors.

Materials:

tufa (solidified volcanic rock)

plaster; fresco technique, fresco walls