The Ancient Etruscans
Etruscan culture developed in northern and central Italy after 800 BC without a serious break out of the preceding Villanovan culture. The Villanovan culture, the earliest Iron Age culture of central and northern Italy, gave way in the 7th century to an increasingly orientalizing culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy. The Etruscan civilization flourished in Etruria and the Po valley in the northern part of what is now Italy, prior to the arrival of Gauls in the Po valley and the formation of the Roman Republic.
The Art of Ancient Etruria
Etruscan art was the form of figurative art produced by the Etruscan civilization in northern Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. The principal centers of Etruscan art were Caere (Cerveteri), Tarquinii, Vulci, and Veii (Veio). Although much is clearly owed to Greek sources, Etruscan works of art have a definite character all their own. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta (particularly life-size on sarcophagi or temples) and cast bronze, wall-painting and metalworking (especially engraved bronze mirrors). Not much is known about their artistic style since not much written information has been found or even been released by the Etruscans. Etruscan art was strongly connected to religion, the afterlife was of major importance in Etruscan art.
Etruscan Art
The History of Etruria
The Etruscan Museum
Etruscan Art - The Louvre
Etruscan Art - The Met
Etruscan Art - MFA, Boston
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Trefoil Oinochoe, Etruscan - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Bronze Chariot, Etruscan - Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cinerary Urn, Etruscan - Metropolitan Museum of Art
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