BMCR 2009.01.43, P. Gregory Warden, From the Temple and the Tomb

P. Gregory  Warden (ed.), From the Temple and the Tomb: Etruscan
Treasures from Tuscany.  Dallas:  Meadows Museum, SMU, 2009.  Pp. 357,
ills.  ISBN 978-1-60702-755-3.  $45.00.

Reviewed by Jenifer Neils, Case Western Reserve University
([email protected])
Word count:  1501 words
-------------------------------
To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2009/2009-01-43.html
To comment on this review, see
http://www.bmcreview.org/2009/01/20090143.html
-------------------------------

ALSO SEEN: EXHIBITION: "From the Temple and the Tomb: Etruscan
Treasures from Tuscany." Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, Texas. Jan. 24-May 17, 2009

It is somewhat ironic that as one enters an exhibition of Etruscan art,
one is confronted by the ravaged face of the Greek hero, Oedipus,
staring down from a sculpted pediment. But on further reflection it
makes sense. With his arms raised heavenward, his blinded eyes and open
mouth, he resembles a seer prophesying to his religious devotees
standing before the temple. As the battle of Thebes rages around him
and his sons are dying at either side, Oedipus is both a tortured king
and a wise prophet.  Both roles clearly resonated with the Etruscans,
who were ruled by aristocratic principe and who excelled in the arts of
divination.

Welcoming the visitor in the large upstairs gallery at the Meadows
Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, is a
striking juxtaposition of this 2nd-century BCE terracotta temple
pediment from Talamone framing a large 5th-century BCE cinerary urn in
the shape of a woman (the so-called Mater Matuta from Chianciano) --
both major icons of Etruscan art. They herald the twin themes of this
loan exhibition from Florence, the temple and the tomb. Etruscan
funerary art is fairly commonplace, having been uncovered and exhibited
in Tuscany since the era of the Medici; objects of a religious nature
are rarer, but significantly more important since they reveal a great
deal about the less well documented life-style, as opposed to the
death-style, of these pre-Roman inhabitants of Italy.  But this
stunning exhibit does more than educate the public about Etruscan tombs
and temples; it puts on display a vast  --  over 350 objects in all --
array of intriguing works of art of various materials, scales,
techniques, types of imagery, andfindspots , many of which have not
been on display in Florence for decades. It is the most important show
of Etruscan material ever mounted in this hemisphere, and it behooves
everyone interested in the classical past to see it before it returns
to Italy in May.

The exhibition was co-organized by the Meadows Museum of SMU and the
National Archaeological Museum of Florence.  The masterminds were
Giuseppina Carlotta Cianferoni, director of the museum in Florence, and
P. Gregory Warden, an SMU distinguished professor who conducts on-going
excavations at the site of Poggio Colla, north of Florence (where this
reviewer is a guest scholar). In the ground-floor galleries there is a
didactic exhibit of smaller finds from that site, including the
reconstruction of a terracotta roof and a votive deposit.  The large
exhibit was shown earlier in Madrid, but the Dallas version has been
expanded with more objects, including the early archaic bronze statues
from Brolio, which consist of a frontal draped female surrounded by
three stately warriors posed as if in a stylized pyrrhic dance.  While
they may have functioned as table supports in antiquity, they now are
excellent examples of the Etruscan artist's attention to exquisite
detail and obsession with elegant elongation.

The main exhibit follows a chronological order from the impasto hut
urns of the ninth century BC from southern Etruria to the
second-century BC carved alabaster urns from Volterra. One could trace
the evolution of another distinctive Etruscan object, the fibula, from
its earliest bronze versions, sometimes enhanced with amber and bone,
to seventh-century models in gold and silver with intricate
granulation.  The installation represents the height of Italian
disegno.  Objects are displayed in large, square suede-lined cases,
which show them off brilliantly but also tend to compartmentalize them
such that pieces pertaining to the same votive pit or tomb group are
separated.  Many striking pieces merit their own case, like a gigantic
bronze trident from Populonia complete with its cotter pin on a chain
which kept the three forks together.

The favored media of the Etruscans, bronze and clay, are well
represented.  Shiny black bucchero abounds in an amazing variety of
shapes, including a plump bird on wheels. One finds typical bronze
utilitarian objects like razors, tweezers, mirrors, fibulae, basins,
strainers and a humble grater, but also unique pieces like a meter-long
brazier with birds perched on the edge borne along on four wheels.
Horses and birds were very much in the repertoire of early bronze
workers, and bronze horse trappings and huge chariot wheels from
various necropoli exemplify the Etruscans' fascination with
equestrianism. Ivory was also clearly a favorite medium, and some of
the most exquisite objects in the exhibit are made of this imported
material, e.g., a pair of fan handles decorated with crouching beasts,
a unique comb with gilded ivory decoration, a delicate hair pin topped
by a griffin, and a Hellenistic-style sculpture of a deformed
ithyphallic pygmy who shoulders a dead crane.  This piece is
appropriately set in a case with an Etruscan red-figure kelebe or
krater which shows an earlier moment, a combat of pygmy and crane.
Gold jewelry is prevalent, attesting to the great wealth of the
Etruscans. One of the most visually spectacular pieces in the show is a
gold diadem composed of thin leaves and repousse/ plaques depicting
Scylla on a dolphin. A somewhat garish ring from Montepulciano,
consisting of a blue and yellow carnelian set into a thick gold frame,
recalls those worn by the overfed Etruscans lounging on the tops of
their funerary urns. Both pieces are dated to the fourth century, when
the Etruscan began to be overtaken by the stolid Romans, who considered
them decadent. The only major Etruscan medium missing in this show is
wall painting, for the simple reason that these are mostly in situ.
However color is supplied by several architectural plaques preserving
red and blue pigments, as well as an alabaster cinerary urn, that of
Larth Cumersa loaned by the Siena Museum of Archaeology.  Here a winged
demon or Vanth is interposed between the sons of Oedipus whose wounds
are spurting red blood; the painting of the figures' dark eyes and
bright garments gives this relief a vividness and expressive quality
lacking in the urns, that have sadly lost all their color.

For those intrigued by the Etruscan language there are a few pieces
with inscriptions, including the famous "Magliano Disk" which carries
an exceptional long text naming several deities. The names Menvra
(Minerva) and Cilens (Selene?) are painted on a large terracotta
antefix of the second-century from Bolsena consisting of two animated
statuettes of these deities.  Some deliberately crushed bronze helmets,
found in a cache of 125 near the walls of Vetulonia, are inscribed with
the name of a prominent family or clan Haspnas. Bronze hand mirrors,
one of the most distinctive Etruscan products, bear incised names as
well.  The well known masterpiece from Volterra showing Herakles
suckling at the breast of Hera, a scene unknown in Greek art, is
inscribed Uni and Hercle. And naturally many of the cinerary urns have
the names of the deceased carved or painted prominently on the fronts.

Numerous non-Etruscan objects attest to the Etruscans' vast trade
network in the Mediterranean.  There is a small bronze model of boat,
typical of Sardinia. Corinthian and Attic vases are juxtaposed with
Etruscan imitations; only lacking are the Attic imitations of Etruscan
shapes like the Nikosthenic amphorae and kyathoi which would have
demonstrated how the Greek market responded to their avid Etruscan
customers.  One vitrine showcases an array of small plastic perfume
flasks including a pair of green faience locusts, probably from East
Greece.

One of the ironies of this exhibit in light of the recent repatriations
to Italy of archaeological materials which were presumably looted from
their ancient contexts, is the absence of didactic labels explaining
how and where these objects were deposited. As mentioned earlier,
because of the design of the installation, many votive deposits or tomb
complexes are divvied up among several cases, making it challenging for
the average viewer to envision the original complex.  Text labels would
have helped immensely in this regard, even if they are somewhat
distracting from the overall aesthetic appeal of the whole.
Fortunately there is an excellent and comprehensive catalogue edited by
Warden and published by the Meadows Museum.  It is not simply a
translation of the Madrid catalogue, as it includes commissioned essays
from eminent American scholars: J. P. Small on the aesthetics of
Etruscan Art, I. Edlund-Berry on religion, N. de Grummond on women, R.
E. Wallace on language and inscriptions, A. Steiner on relations with
the Greeks, and P. G. Warden on funerary contexts and what he terms the
"social landscape".

Together with a symposium entitled "Learning from the Past, Partnering
for the Future" held on January 24, 2009,  which covered various topics
relating to American archaeological projects in Italy, this entire
venture was an ambitious undertaking for a university museum.  SMU and
Warden are to be congratulated for bringing the riches of Etruria to
central Texas, and in so doing, educating students and the public about
this unique culture which flourished for half a millennium in the
ancient Mediterranean.