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Les arts de la couleur en Grèce ancienne… et ailleurs

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Philippe Jockey

Arts polychromes et dorés, synthèses et études de cas

Greek Contributions to Tomb Paintings in Etruria and Southern Italy: Colours, Painting Techniques, Workshops and Iconography

L’apport grec à la peinture funéraire en Étrurie et en Italie méridionale : couleurs, techniques picturales, ateliers et iconographie

Ελληνικές συμβολές στο γραπτό διάκοσμο τάφων στην Ετρουρία και τη νότια Ιταλία: χρώματα, τεχνικές ζωγραφικής, εργαστήρια και εικονογραφία

Stephan Steingräber

Résumé

L’influence de la culture et de l’art grec sur l’art de l’Italie préromaine se manifeste de façon particulièrement décisive pendant deux périodes historiques : l’archaïsme tardif (du milieu du vie au commencement du ve s. av. J.-C.) et du classicisme tardif à la haute époque hellénistique (du milieu du ive au milieu du iiie s. av. J.-C.). Pendant la première période, la peinture funéraire étrusque (surtout à Tarquinia) montre beaucoup de similitudes avec la peinture de la Grèce d’Asie (ionienne) – une espèce de koiné culturelle et artistique. La présence de peintres grecs en Étrurie est prouvée par des trouvailles de pigments en tant qu’offrande votive à Gravisca, le port de Tarquinia au caractère d’emporion grec. Pendant la seconde période, on peut observer en Étrurie du Sud (Tarquinia, Orvieto, Vulci, Cerveteri) de même que dans différentes régions de l’Italie méridionale, notamment en Apulie (Arpi, Canosa, Egnazia), en Campanie (Naples, Capoue, Nola) et en Lucanie (Paestum) une influence marquée de la peinture grecque, et particulièrement macédonienne, en ce qui concerne les couleurs, les techniques picturales, les programmes iconographiques et les intentions idéologiques. On présente et on examine ici quelques peintures funéraires caractéristiques de haute qualité à Tarquinia (par exemple la Tomba dei Festoni), à Arpi (l’hypogée de la Méduse), à Naples (l’hypogée Cristallini) et à Paestum (la nécropole Spinazzo). Les recherches récentes et la restauration des tombes peintes de l’Étrurie et de l’Italie méridionale ont considérablement contribué à l’amélioration de nos connaissances dans le domaine de la peinture antique.

Texte intégral

I would like to thank most warmly the French School at Athens for the kind invitation to the conference and H. Walter-Karydi for her friendly suggestions.

  • 1 F. Boitani, M. Diana, S. Guido, “Il restauro dell’Apollo di Veio”, Kermes 17 (2004), pp. 41-60.

1There is no doubt that Etruscan art was very colourful –not only in its wall and tomb paintings but also other categories of art such as stone and terracotta sculptures and reliefs. In many cases, the original polychromy is still at least partly preserved, as we can see in the cases of the famous late Archaic statue of Apollo from the Portonaccio Temple in Veii, and the equally famous 4th century pair of winged horses from the “Ara della Regina” temple in Tarquinia. In both cases, recent restorations using sophisticated methods have allowed an even better reconstruction of the original polychromy.1 Many Etruscan sarcophagi and urns with and without reliefs show remnants of the original colourful decoration too. In contrast to Greek and Roman art, Etruscologists have never had a problem about the existence or non-existence of colours on sculptures and reliefs. We have also to remember that the use of marble in Etruria was very rare.

  • 2 Steingräber 2006, pp. 281-282.

2In two historical periods in particular, Greek cultural and artistic influences were particularly strong in Etruria and other parts of pre-Roman Italy: in the late Archaic period (from the middle of the 6th century to the beginning of the 5th century) and in the late Classical and early Hellenistic period (from the middle of the 4th century to the middle of the 3rd century). In the first period, Etruscan tomb painting –mainly in Tarquinia– displays many common characteristics with eastern Greek/Ionian painting, the expression of a kind of cultural and artistic koine.2

  • 3 Mentioned by Herodotus, 4.152.
  • 4 There are only brief comments by M. Torelli in NSc 1971 and PP 1977.
  • 5 F. Boitani, “Gravisca. Profilo storico-topografico”, in M. Torelli, A. M. Moretti Sgubini (eds), Et (...)

3The presence of Greek painters –not only vase-painters– in Etruria is proved by the find of a collection of colour pigments in vessels beneath votive offerings in Gravisca – Tarquinia’s harbour town, which had a true cosmopolitan atmosphere and the partial character of an (East) Greek emporion. Gravisca reached its fullest extent of vitality or akme during the second half of the 6th and the early 5th century, when Tarquinian tomb painting also reached its first and main highpoint. Foreign artists, craftsmen and merchants, above all East Greeks, especially after the destruction of Phocaea in 546, settled in Gravisca and had their own sanctuaries dedicated to the Greek gods Hera, Aphrodite and Demeter. Many Greek ceramics and inscriptions have been found during the excavations carried out since the 1970s by M. Torelli and F. Boitani. Famous names like Sostratus from Aegina3 and Pactyes (connected with King Croesus of Lydia) are documented here. Unfortunately the colour pigments have never really been published.4 In the recent exhibition “Etruschi. Le antiche metropoli del Lazio” in Rome, a selection of the colour pigments was on display but not described in the catalogue.5 Unpublished analysis shows that in case of blue we are dealing with the so-called Egyptian blue (a composite of copper silicate and natron, i.e. sodium carbonate, which was not very common in Italy but more so in North Africa).

  • 6 M. Cristofani, “Storia dell’arte e acculturazione. Le pitture tombali arcaiche di Tarquinia”, Prosp (...)
  • 7 O. Bingöl, Malerei und Mosaik der Antike in der Türkei (1997), pp. 33-57.
  • 8 Steingräber 2006, pp. 281-282.
  • 9 Steingräber 2006, pp. 122-126.

4Some archaeologists even attribute some of the most outstanding Tarquinian tombs from the last decades of the 6th century to immigrant Ionian painters, among them the Tombe degli Auguri, delle Leonesse, della Caccia e Pesca and del Barone, all of which present true megalographies and figural programmes. In terms of style, it is possible to discern definite links between certain late Archaic tomb paintings in Tarquinia and specific regions or cities of the Ionian East. The Tombe del Barone and delle Iscrizioni, for example, betray a strong North Ionian influence, the Tombe degli Auguri and dei Giocolieri show borrowings from Aeolian Phocaea, and certain features of the Tomba della Caccia e Pesca can be traced to Samos.6 There are close similarities in style (head profiles), in some iconographic elements (e.g. predatory cats, banquets, seascapes with ships, processions of people), and sometimes also in painting techniques, between late Archaic Etruscan tomb painting on the one hand and various examples of late Archaic tomb and wall painting in Asia Minor on the other, for example in Gordion (Phrygia), Usak (Lydia), and in Elmali/Karaburun (Lycia), which are also distinctly Ionian influenced.7 We should also mention the painted Clazomenaen sarcophagi, painted terracotta relief slabs like those from Larisa, and various vase groups such as those of the Little Masters/Kleinmeister from Samos.8 Thus we can speak about a kind of “international Ionicism” or “Ionian koine”, which is clearly reflected in wall, tomb and vase painting in different areas of the eastern and central Mediterranean, including Etruria, from where we can cite a great number of tomb paintings, the painted Campana terracotta panels, the Hydriae from Caere, the Campana Dinoi, and the Pontic vases from Vulci.9

  • 10 L. Branzani, “Le pitture murali degli Etruschi. Osservazioni sulla loro tecnica”, StEtr 7 (1933), p (...)
  • 11 L.Vlad Borrelli, “Proposte per il restauro e la conservazione delle pitture murali”, BRest 1965, pp (...)
  • 12 J. De Wit, “Die Vorritzungen der etruskischen Grabmalerei”, JdI 44 (1929), pp. 31ff.
  • 13 S. Steingräber, “Beobachtungen zu Vorritzungen in der etruskisch-hellenistischen Grabmalerei”, AA 1 (...)

5As it is well known, in general we can distinguish three different periods as regards the painting techniques used in Etruscan tombs. These differences were at least partly recognized by G. Dennis as early as the mid-19th century.10 In the last five decades, L.Vlad Borrelli in particular contributed significantly to a better technical understanding of Etruscan tomb painting.11 In the Orientalizing period, the 7th and early 6th centuries – starting with the Tomba dei Leoni Ruggenti discovered in 2005 at Veii, which dates to the first quarter of the 7th century– the three basic colours of red, black, and yellow were applied directly to the hollowed out and smoothed stone walls. These are in effect more coloured drawings than real paintings. In the Archaic period, however, beginning in the second quarter of the 6th century, we can recognize a rudimentary form of fresco painting, including a thin, light intonaco (from 1 to 3 mm thick), made of clay, stone powder (macco in case ofTarquinia), and even vegetable fibres and peat; then a thin layer of lime paste (which reacts chemically with the moist backing to form a light coating of calcium carbonate, which acts as a fixative for the colours); and then a preliminary incision with a stick or pointed metal instrument (in some tombs there is no incision at all), red, dark brown or black outline drawings, and a richer palette of colours, now including blue and green. These innovations were probably sparked significantly by immigrant, mainly East Greek, painters and artists. The tombs were clearly painted very rapidly –without a binding medium– and, due to the air’s high humidity, the walls would never completely dry. The outline drawing did not always precisely follow the preparatory incisions, as demonstrated, above all, by highlight photographs (fig. 1).12 In the course of the 4th century, a further basic change occurred with the application of a much thicker “intonaco” –a genuine plaster– (up to 3 cm) that could have as many as three layers: “tufo pozzolanico” at the bottom, siliceous sand and lime (2: 1 ratio) in the middle, and calcium carbonate blended with colour pigments and sand at the top. Preliminary incisions were reduced (fig. 2) or completely omitted,13 and a still more varied and nuanced palette of colours came into use, including a number of blended colours that could produce more subtle plastic effects.

Fig. 1 — Tarquinia, Tomba dei Leopardi: detail of the rear wall with preliminary incisions.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 2 — Tarquinia, Tomba dell’Orco I: detail of the right wall with preliminary incisions.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

  • 14 H. Brecoulaki, L’esperienza del colore nella pittura funeraria dell’età preromana V – III sec. a.C. (...)
  • 15 A. Bottini, E. Setari, Il sarcofago delle Amazzoni (2007).

6Research intended to identify components of the pigments, the support, the plaster on which the colour was laid, and the adhesives used (obtained in part from egg white) has recently been carried out in more detail. In this context, H. Brecoulaki’s research in Macedonia, southern Italy (Paestum, Campania, Apulia) and Etruria14 is particularly noteworthy, as are, for example, the tempera paintings on the famous Amazon sarcophagus from Tarquinia (now in the Archaeological Museum of Florence), recently restudied by A. Bottini15 and most probably to be attributed to a painter from Magna Graecia, perhaps from Taras. In Etruria the pigments were mainly obtained from earths/ iron oxides and ferruginous hydroxides/hematite (red and yellow = red and yellow ochre), lime or kaolin (white), charcoal or charred bones (black), cinnabar/ “minium” = brilliant red (mercury sulphide) and malachite (basic copper carbonate) or celadonite (green). Only the blue was made of an artificial mixture of heated smashed malachite or copper, lime powder and sand, the so-called Egyptian frit or caeruleum aegyptium. Theophrastus, Pliny and Vitruvius in particular refer to the three varieties of this very special colour. The much more expensive raw material lapis lazuli was not normally used in Etruria, probably mainly for economic reasons.

  • 16 M. Paribeni, Cause di deperimento e metodi di conservazione delle pitture murali delle tombe sotter (...)

7In 1979, the Soprintendenza Archeologica per l’Etruria meridionale started a programme, which continues today, of restoration of many painted tombs in Tarquinia, but also at some other sites such as Veii and Chiusi, of which the condition of preservation was alarming.16 The restorers used more sophisticated and less invasive techniques than in the past, with good results. In part, they had to use micro-drills and ultrasound scanners to remove old aids to restoration such as metal cramps and grey cement, and then clean and consolidate the painted surfaces with acrylic resins. In any case, after some less positive experiences in the 1950s and 1960s, efforts are now made to conserve the tomb paintings in situ and not to detach them from the walls.

  • 17 M. Torelli, Elogia Tarquiniensia (1975); Steingräber 1985, pp. 337-340; Steingräber 2006, pp. 207-2 (...)

8The very famous and equally discussed Tomba dell’Orco of Tarquinia, discovered already in 1868,17 has been the subject of restorations and several kinds of investigation since the 1980s, especially from 1981 to 1983 and from 2005 to 2006. These analyses were carried out partly in situ and partly in the laboratory. “Sezioni lucide”/glossy sections, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence were employed as techniques. Using ultraviolet light made it possible to obtain better information about the use of organic adhesives. The walls are covered with a first layer of “tufo pozzolanico” (between 2.5 and 6 mm thick), a second grey layer of siliceous sand and lime (2: 1 ratio; about 10 mm thick) and a third exterior layer of calcium carbonate containing some crystals of powdered marble (about 2 mm thick). The colours red, yellow, white, black, green and blue that were used have been analysed but the final results have still to be published. In my opinion, the use of the so-called Egyptian blue by itself and some other observations are not enough to postulate a Greek painter or workshop in case of the Tomba dell’Orco, as was proposed by e.g. M. Torelli (from Attica or Magna Graecia). The illustrations show some details of the paintings in the two rooms (Tomba dell’Orco I and II) (figs. 2-5) and the space linking them (so-called Tomba dell’Orco III) (fig. 6) after the recent restorations.

  • 18 M. Cataldi, L. Marras, A. Pelagotti, R. Carmagnola, G. Adinolfi, “La signora dei Demoni Azzurri”, A (...)

9Recent restorations and research (using multispectral methods) in the Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri discovered in 1985 at Tarquinia and not yet securely published are also of great interest.18 Its wall paintings, which date from the late 5th century and show for the first time Etruscan death demons, are extremely important and innovative in the matter of iconography and ideology (figs. 7-8).

Fig. 3 — Tarquinia, Tomba dell’Orco I: detail of the right wall with inscription.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 4 — Tarquinia, Tomba dell’Orco II: detail of the rear wall with head of Phersipnei/Persephone.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 5 — Tarquinia, Tomba dell’Orco II: detail of the right wall with kylikeion.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 6 — Tarquinia, so-called Tomba dell’Orco III: detail of the head of Polyphemus.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 7 — Tarquinia, Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri: detail of the right wall with blue demon.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 8 — Tarquinia, Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri: detail of the right wall with Charon and his boat.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

  • 19 S. Steingräber, “Gab es eine Koinè in der mediterranen Malerei der frühhellenistischen Zeit?”, in A (...)
  • 20 E. Walter-Karydi, The Greek House. The Rise of Noble Houses in Late Classical Times (1998).

10In the second –more recent– period (second half of the 4th and first decades of the 3rd century) we can observe both in southern Etruria (Tarquinia, Orvieto, Vulci, Cerveteri) and in different parts of southern Italy –Apulia (Arpi, Canosa, Egnazia), Campania (Naples, Capua, Nola) and Lucania (Paestum)– the strong influence of Greek and particularly Macedonian painting as regards colours, painting techniques, iconographic programmes and ideological intentions. Generally this period was characterized by a kind of koine, much discussed during the last two decades by several scholars, including myself.19 It was intended mainly for the dominant classes ( “linguaggio dei ceti dominanti”, according to Angela Pontrandolfo), when a number of different regions, not only Greek territories and colonies, and some of them remote from each other (including Etruria), shared a common style and iconography that is seen in such diverse artistic genres as wall painting, mosaics, vase painting, architecture and architectural decoration, terracottas, toreutics, and jewellery. Specific iconographic motifs (above all ornaments), forms, and stylistic and technical features can be seen more or less contemporary in many regions –and that is not to mention ideological and religious elements. It was precisely in this period that tomb painting, generally in combination with monumental tomb architecture, came into full flower in a number of regions around the Mediterranean, including southern Etruria, Rome, southern Italy (Apulia, Campania, and Lucania), Macedonia, Thrace, Crimea, Alexandria and parts of Asia Minor. From Greece, especially Macedonia, a new type of aristocratic dwelling, with andrones, peristyles, and rich decoration (with stucco, painting and mosaics),20 was transmitted to other cultural areas like Daunia (Arpi, Salapia), Campania (Buccino), Sicily (Gela, Morgantina) and southern Russia.

Fig. 9 — Arpi, Ipogeo della Medusa: gorgoneion in the pediment of the tomb façade.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 10 — Vulci, Tomba François: back wall of the rear chamber with architectural painting.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 11 — Tarquinia, Tomba 5512: detail of the painted ceiling with crenellation motifs.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 12 — Tarquinia, Tomba degli Anina: detail with kymation and scroll frieze.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 13 — Taras, Tomba dei Festoni: detail with garlands.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

  • 21 Steingräber 2006, pp. 40-45.
  • 22 M. Mazzei, Arpi. L’ipogeo della Medusa e la necropoli (1995).
  • 23 I. Baldassarre, “Documenti di pittura ellenistica a Napoli”, in A. Rouveret (ed.), L’Italie méridio (...)
  • 24 S. Steingräber, Arpi – Apulien – Makedonien. Studien zum unteritalischen Grabwesen in hellenistisch (...)
  • 25 M. G. Canosa, “Una tomba principesca da Timmari”, Monumenti Antichi 65 (2007).

11The early Hellenistic mosaics found in aristocratic houses in Arpi and made using three different techniques can most probably be attributed to northern Greek workshops, as M. Mazzei has also proposed. On the subject of monumental aristocratic tomb architecture, the so-called Macedonian type with its characteristic barrel vault had great success in many areas around the Mediterranean, including Apulia, Campania and Etruria.21 The most impressing example of this type in pre-Roman Italy remains the Ipogeo della Medusa in Daunian Arpi (excavated and published by the late M. Mazzei) with its imposing temple-like façade (fig. 9), three barrel-vaulted chambers, and its rich painted and mosaic decorations of high quality.22 Another striking example of Macedonian influence is found in Naples in the Ipogeo Cristallini recently republished by I. Baldassare.23 A number of motifs are documented in tomb paintings from different cultural areas, including architectural motifs (the so-called zone or structural style [fig. 10]), ornamental motifs such as crenellation (fig. 11), draperies, scrolls (fig. 12), garlands (fig. 13), bucrania (at times combined with rosettes and paterae) (fig. 19), perspective meander friezes and kymatia, figural motifs such as weapons and weapon friezes (fig. 14), gorgoneia (fig. 9), animal fights, sea creatures such as Nereids riding seahorses or other marine animals, female heads (at times combined with scroll or flower decorations), chariot races, some including a Nike, and various versions of the deductio ad inferos (the journey to the underworld). Also of great interest are representations of historical events, e.g. battle scenes in Macedonian, Thracian, Etruscan, Roman and Paestanian tomb paintings, on Apulian red-figure and Daunian polychrome vases, and in terracotta “appliqués” of Canosa vases.24 Several representations on monumental Apulian red-figured vases –especially of the Darius Painter– show clear pro-Macedonian (and in the same moment anti-Persian) tendencies. The manifold influences from Macedonian art and culture in Italy from the reigns of Philipp II and Alexander the Great onwards, and particularly after the presence of Alexander Molossus in southern Italy, were also discussed during a recent symposium in June 2009 at the Getty Villa in Malibu. Macedonia had become a new ideological and cultural model for the rulers and aristocrats in different areas of Italy before definite Romanization, and influenced palatial, house, and tomb architecture, mosaics, paintings, tomb stelae, coins and weapons, and also iconographic themes such as battle and weapon friezes and funeral rites.25

Fig. 14 — Tarquinia, Tomba Giglioli: detail of the rear wall with shield and emblem.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 15 — Tarquinia, Tomba Giglioli: detail of the left wall with himation.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 16 — Tarquinia, Tomba dei Festoni: detail of the painted ceiling with putto.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 17 — Tarquinia, Tomba dei Festoni: detail of the painted ceiling with putto.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

  • 26 Steingräber 1985, pp. 317-318; Steingräber 2006, pp. 253-254.
  • 27 Steingräber 1985, pp. 311; S. Steingräber, “Die Tomba dei Festoni in Tarquinia und die Deckenmalere (...)
  • 28 A. Morandi, Le Pitture dellaTomba del Cardinale (1983); Steingräber 1985, pp. 305-307; Steingräber (...)
  • 29 G. Andreassi, A. Ciancio, Tombe a semicamera sull’acropoli di Monte Sannace (1986), pp. 56-70.

12In late Etruscan tomb painting we find different echoes of the main achievements of Greek painting of the 4th century. Most probably, Magna Graecia and its leading political and cultural centre, Taras, played an important intermediary role in the transmissions of techniques, motifs and patterns between different parts of the Greek world and Etruria and Rome/Latium. On the one hand, we should emphasize the chiaroscuro technique and use of shading and often of a dark background with strong three-dimensional effects (e.g. in the Tomba Giglioli at Tarquinia)26 (figs. 14-15), on the other hand the “pittura a macchia”, a technique of painting with coloured patches that is almost impressionistic, and the addition of white highlights (splendor and lumen, according to Pliny). The best example of “pittura a macchia” is documented in the Tomba dei Festoni in Tarquinia, which dates from approximately 270 and probably belonged to the influential Curunas family. Its long rectangular –kymatia-framed– ceiling coffers (lacunaria) are decorated with small pinkish Erotes, sea creatures (kete), and scrolls against a dark blue ground (figs. 16-17).27 This highly impressionistic, almost Tachist technique, with its pinkish colour spots and applied white highlights, was probably adopted in Etruria via Magna Graecia (Taras). It is also seen in the equally blue-ground battle friezes on the pilaster capital in the roughly contemporary Tomba del Cardinale in Tarquinia (fig. 18),28 in the blue-ground frieze with bucrania and paterae of a half-chamber elite tomb (Tomba 8) on the acropolis of Monte Sannace in Peucetian Apulia (fig. 19),29 and on Pocola vases from central Italy.

Fig. 18 — Tarquinia, Tomba del Cardinale: detail of the painted capital of the pillar with battle scene and scroll frieze.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Fig. 19 — Monte Sannace – Acropoli, Tomba 8: detail of frieze with bucrania and paterae.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

  • 30 M. Mazzei, “L’ipogeo della Nike di Arpi”, AION 9-10 (2002-2003), pp. 153-158; S. Steingräber, “Flie (...)
  • 31 M. Mazzei, “Nota su un gruppo di vasi policromi decorati con scene di combattimento, da Arpi”, AION(...)

13Of special interest for a number of reasons is the so-called Tomba della Nike, a tomb with a dromos, house-like façade with pediment, and tomb chamber with barrel vault, excavated in Arpi in 2003 by M. Mazzei a year before her premature death.30 It dates from the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd century. The painted decoration in tempera technique on the pediment of the façade is now displayed in the Museo Civico of Foggia. The representation includes a victorious cavalryman –apparently a Daunian from Arpi– with lance, helmet, and shield, who is being crowned with a wreath by a floating winged Nike, and with a vanquished enemy collapsed at his feet (fig. 20). Both the iconography of this unique façade painting and the way tempera was applied to the pinkish ground compare favourably with contemporary polychrome vases from Canosa and especially Arpi which were published mainly by M. Mazzei.31 One could postulate that this dramatic scene reflects some real historical event of the Second Samnite War or the battle of Ausculum (Ascoli Satriano) between the Romans and Pyrrhus, in which Daunian soldiers, including Arpians, fought on the Roman side.

  • 32 A. Pontrandolfo, “L’Italia meridionale e le prime esperienze della pittura ellenistica nelle offici (...)

14In a group of painted chamber tombs in Paestum’s Spinazzo necropolis dating from the turn of the 4th century to the 3rd century and showing large-format figural scenes – true megalographies– we can observe clearly the influence of innovative Greek painting techniques and styles such as shading, chiaroscuro effects, colour spots and highlights, an expanded palette of colours, and attempts at perspective (fig. 21).32

Fig. 20 — Arpi, Tomba della Nike: detail of the painted façade with warrior and winged Nike.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

  • 33 S. Steingräber, “Tarquinia. La più grande pinacoteca del mondo preromano”, in M. Torelli, A. M. Mor (...)
  • 34 M. Pallottino, “Tarquinia”, MonAnt 36 (1937), pp. 1ff.
  • 35 M. Pallottino, La peinture étrusque (1952); A. Cecchini, Le tombe dipinte di Tarquinia. Vicenda con (...)

15At the conclusion of this discussion, a brief announcement is in order concerning Tarquinia and its necropolis, with its unique heritage of Etruscan tomb paintings, which in 2004 (together with Cerveteri) was recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. There are plans by the Comune di Tarquinia, the Regione Lazio and a group of colleagues to emphasize this role of Tarquinia as the “capitale della pittura italiana preromana con la pinacoteca sotterranea più grande del Mediterraneo”.33 According to these plans, the next years would see the creation of a study centre with a specialized library in the Palazzo Bruschi-Falgari located in the heart of the historical medieval city, and new didactic routes to the large tumuli of the Orientalizing period (a so-called Via dei Principi) and to the Arcatelle and Secondi Archi-areas of the Monterozzi necropolis, with the possibility of opening to the public (behind a glass door, of course) a series of other painted tombs. There would then follow a series of publications and small exhibitions, conferences and “convegni”, which would consider the connections between Tarquinian and Etruscan painting on the one hand and, on the other, other important areas and cultures of the Mediterranean, including southern Italy, Macedonia, Thrace, Asia Minor and so on, that are significant owing to their remains of wall and tomb paintings. November 2009 coincided with the 100th birthday of the late Massimo Pallottino, to whom we owe his still important doctoral thesis of 1937 on ancient Tarquinia,34 which will perhaps be reprinted, and the first history of Etruscan painting, published in 1952.35 There is no doubt that this leading Etruscologist of the last century would support with great enthusiasmos this revaluation of Tarquinia and its colourful underground heritage.

Fig. 21 — Paestum, Necropoli Spinazzo, Tomba “Taranto”: detail of the left wall with horses.

(Photo: S. Steingräber.)

Bibliographie

Bibliographical abbreviations

Steingräber 1985 = S. Steingräber (ed.), Etruskische Wandmalerei.

Steingräber 2006 = S. Steingräber, Etruskische Wandmalerei. Von der geometrischen Periode bis zum Hellenismus.

Notes

1 F. Boitani, M. Diana, S. Guido, “Il restauro dell’Apollo di Veio”, Kermes 17 (2004), pp. 41-60.

2 Steingräber 2006, pp. 281-282.

3 Mentioned by Herodotus, 4.152.

4 There are only brief comments by M. Torelli in NSc 1971 and PP 1977.

5 F. Boitani, “Gravisca. Profilo storico-topografico”, in M. Torelli, A. M. Moretti Sgubini (eds), Etruschi. Le antiche metropoli del Lazio (2008), pp. 148-153.

6 M. Cristofani, “Storia dell’arte e acculturazione. Le pitture tombali arcaiche di Tarquinia”, Prospettiva 7 (1976), pp. 2ff; Steingräber 2006, pp. 64-65.

7 O. Bingöl, Malerei und Mosaik der Antike in der Türkei (1997), pp. 33-57.

8 Steingräber 2006, pp. 281-282.

9 Steingräber 2006, pp. 122-126.

10 L. Branzani, “Le pitture murali degli Etruschi. Osservazioni sulla loro tecnica”, StEtr 7 (1933), pp. 335ff.

11 L.Vlad Borrelli, “Proposte per il restauro e la conservazione delle pitture murali”, BRest 1965, pp. 21ff.; ead., “Rapporto sulle cause di deperimento delle pitture murali di Tarquinia”, StEtr 42 (1974), pp. 161ff.; ead., “Nota sulla tecnica nella pittura parietale etrusca”, DArch 1 (1983), 2, pp. 89ff.; ead., “Technik und Konservation der etruskischen Grabmalerei”, in Steingräber 1985, pp. 91-100; ead., “Cartoni, modelli, disegno preparatorio nelle pitture delle tombe etrusche”, ArchCl 43 (1991), pp. 1179ff.

12 J. De Wit, “Die Vorritzungen der etruskischen Grabmalerei”, JdI 44 (1929), pp. 31ff.

13 S. Steingräber, “Beobachtungen zu Vorritzungen in der etruskisch-hellenistischen Grabmalerei”, AA 1988, pp. 71ff.

14 H. Brecoulaki, L’esperienza del colore nella pittura funeraria dell’età preromana V – III sec. a.C. (2001).

15 A. Bottini, E. Setari, Il sarcofago delle Amazzoni (2007).

16 M. Paribeni, Cause di deperimento e metodi di conservazione delle pitture murali delle tombe sotterranee di Tarquinia (1970); C. Bettini, C. Giacobini, M. Marabelli, “Gli ipogei dipinti della necropoli di Veio: Indagine sullo stato di conservazione e sulle tecniche pittoriche”, StEtr 45 (1977), pp. 239ff.; C. Bettini, “Primi risultati di recenti restauri effettuati su tombe dipinte a Veio, Cerveteri e Tarquinia”, in Archeologia nella Tuscia II. Atti degli Incontri di Studio organizzati a Viterbo 1984 (1986), pp. 296ff.

17 M. Torelli, Elogia Tarquiniensia (1975); Steingräber 1985, pp. 337-340; Steingräber 2006, pp. 207-210.

18 M. Cataldi, L. Marras, A. Pelagotti, R. Carmagnola, G. Adinolfi, “La signora dei Demoni Azzurri”, Archeo XXV 10 (2009), pp. 79-85.

19 S. Steingräber, “Gab es eine Koinè in der mediterranen Malerei der frühhellenistischen Zeit?”, in A. Barbet (ed.), La peinture funéraire antique, ive siècle av. J.-C. - ive siècle ap. J.-C., Actes du VIIe colloque de l’AIPMA, Saint-Romain-en-Gal/Vienne 1998 (2001), pp. 201ff.; Steingräber 2006, pp. 281-301.

20 E. Walter-Karydi, The Greek House. The Rise of Noble Houses in Late Classical Times (1998).

21 Steingräber 2006, pp. 40-45.

22 M. Mazzei, Arpi. L’ipogeo della Medusa e la necropoli (1995).

23 I. Baldassarre, “Documenti di pittura ellenistica a Napoli”, in A. Rouveret (ed.), L’Italie méridionale et les premières expériences de la peinture hellénistique. Actes de la table ronde organisée par l’École française de Rome 1994 (1998), pp. 95-159.

24 S. Steingräber, Arpi – Apulien – Makedonien. Studien zum unteritalischen Grabwesen in hellenistischer Zeit (2000), pp. 163-166.

25 M. G. Canosa, “Una tomba principesca da Timmari”, Monumenti Antichi 65 (2007).

26 Steingräber 1985, pp. 317-318; Steingräber 2006, pp. 253-254.

27 Steingräber 1985, pp. 311; S. Steingräber, “Die Tomba dei Festoni in Tarquinia und die Deckenmalereien der jüngeren etruskischen Kammergräber”, JdI 103 (1988), pp. 217ff.; Steingräber 2006, p. 256.

28 A. Morandi, Le Pitture dellaTomba del Cardinale (1983); Steingräber 1985, pp. 305-307; Steingräber 2006, pp. 257-258.

29 G. Andreassi, A. Ciancio, Tombe a semicamera sull’acropoli di Monte Sannace (1986), pp. 56-70.

30 M. Mazzei, “L’ipogeo della Nike di Arpi”, AION 9-10 (2002-2003), pp. 153-158; S. Steingräber, “Fliegende Nike und berittener Krieger – Neue Grabmalereien aus Arpi beleuchten die frühhellenistische Kulturgeschichte Apuliens”, Antike Welt 36.1 (2005), pp. 72-74.

31 M. Mazzei, “Nota su un gruppo di vasi policromi decorati con scene di combattimento, da Arpi”, AION, ArchStAnt. IX (1987), pp. 168-188.

32 A. Pontrandolfo, “L’Italia meridionale e le prime esperienze della pittura ellenistica nelle officine pestane”, in A. Rouveret (n. 23), pp. 223-241.

33 S. Steingräber, “Tarquinia. La più grande pinacoteca del mondo preromano”, in M. Torelli, A. M. Moretti Sgubini (eds), Etruschi. Le antiche metropoli del Lazio (2008), pp. 94-103.

34 M. Pallottino, “Tarquinia”, MonAnt 36 (1937), pp. 1ff.

35 M. Pallottino, La peinture étrusque (1952); A. Cecchini, Le tombe dipinte di Tarquinia. Vicenda conservativa, restauri, tecnica di esecuzione (2012).

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Auteur

Professor of Etruscology and Italian Antiquity – Università di Roma Tre, Roma, Italy.

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