102 museo etrusco

On Friday night I walked all the way from Trastevere to the Etruscan Museum, north of Villa Borghese. Unfortunately, I was tempted to stop in a number of shops proclaiming "SALDI!" No purchases, though, as I am just too big for Italian clothes. Also, the shopping diversions took longer than planned, so I arrived at the Museum at 6:30, leaving only an hour until closing time at 7:30.

It was a delightful museum!!! The building footprint is about 75% gardens, courtyards and open spaces, and the remainder are small galleries. Because I was working against the clock, I went first to the most famous piece: Sarcofago Degli Sposi. It's a communal tomb for a husband and wife who either died as teenagers, or who wanted to be remembered as teenagers. They have these perky, happy smiles, and their oversized eyes are almost Egyptian.

I liked the sarcophagus so much that I burned about 20 minutes of my hour mkaing a sketch that didn't even turn out to be very good (above). So, I had to hurry through the rest of the museum and I really wish that I could have stayed longer. The Etruscan pottery, weapons and statues are so different from all of the Roman artifacts that I have seen so far. Maybe it is just because they are so different, but I found them much more charming.

The Etruscans are not well understood by historians. We know that they lived in central Italy around 800-500ish BC, and we know that they traded with the Greeks sailing up the River Tiger. We don't know where they originated, but we do know where they went: conquered/assimilated into Roman culture.

You can really see the Greek influence in the Etruscan pottery: an orange burnt-earthy color base with fields of black and illustrations etched out in white depicting athletes, battles, and various deities. I'm starting to feel that in order to really understand Rome, I need to go to Greece.

Although I am sad to have missed an in-depth tour of the museum, I can look forward to seeing more Etruscan art and artifacts at Cerveteri, about 60 miles north of Rome. Cerveteri is best known for its Etruscan tombs, but there is also an Etruscan Museum on site.

One thing that stood out during my speedy trip through the galleries was the use of angels in the images. I guess I thought that angels originated with Judaism, but the Etruscan versions are more-or-less identical to the modern Christian representation.

postnote - I just found this website, Mysterious Etruscans, that also commented on the Etruscan angels.