Greek influence is first apparent, though still overbalanced by native individualization and realistic elements, in a somewhat later sarcophagus of terra-cotta, found in Cære, now one of the chief treasures of the Campana collection in the Louvre. (Fig. 258.) The sarcophagus itself shows a draped couch with technical and ornamental details similar to those found upon the furniture of Assyrian, Xanthian, and ancient Greek reliefs, and particularly upon archaic vase-paintings. A man and woman of life-size, leaning with their left elbows upon leathern cushions, form the lid. If, at first sight, this group has a somewhat frightful and repellent character, not felt in the most shocking distortions of primitive art, the cause lies in its prosaic realism, strikingly heightened by color. Notwithstanding many failures in point of detail, the effect of life was given by the artist without additions or idealizations. Rather inclined to caricature—that is, to the exaggeration of individual characteristics—the Etruscan artist sensibly failed in the reproduction of the head, because wanting in that training in fundamental correctness, through the canonical formation of a true type, which preceded the Grecian perfection. The representation of the individual, instead of being the first aim, should have been left to the last, and it was on this account that the skulls were deformed by various peculiar defects, while the eyes and mouth were drawn upward in a manner that is natural only to the Mongolian race. The same is true in regard to the terra-cotta reliefs of this period, in which the striving after action and naturalness of appearance caused an excessive restlessness in all the motions of the dislocated arms and hands, particularly evident in the ivory reliefs upon a number of caskets.
Sculpture in marble at this period, about 550 to 300 B.C., was less developed; single archaic reliefs in this material—of which Southern Etruria offers but few—appear flat, and entirely under the influence of painting. The inadequacy of the artistic ability of this time is shown, for example, in a relief of Chiusi, representing the lamentation for the dead, where expression of sorrow is combined with caricatured individual features, very rude in drawing and form. (Fig. 259.)
The bronze-work, which is closely connected with the terra-cotta work, was of greater importance, and betrays a more decided and enduring Phœnician influence than do the terra-cotta statues. This is shown in the beaten bronzes, thin plates of which were used to overlay wooden forms. The most important example, the remains of a chariot found at Perugia, is preserved in the Glyptothek and Antiquarium at Munich. The representations of a sea-horse, a woman with fins, sphinxes, and a man who holds or strangles two lions, give evidence rather of Oriental than of Hellenic prototypes. The uncertainty in form and proportions, the ungainliness of the figures, and the awkwardness of the entire composition are in no wise compensated by the careful execution of the finely engraved details to be seen only upon close inspection. A tripod, found at the same time in Perugia, also now in Munich, shows a certain advance. Its three sides have representations of Hercules, and the Italian Juno Sospita, with the so-called Bœotian shield and pointed shoes, in somewhat higher beaten reliefs, very carefully engraved. This tripod is distinguished from the preceding examples as being the work of a more skilful artist, but differs little, or perhaps not at all, in point of age. The upper part of this vessel, now lacking, was mostly of bronze casting; the borders of the seat and the ends of the shafts upon the Perugian chariot were decorated with statuettes of solid metal; but these, as well as the handles upon utensils, seem to have been mere artisan work, not unlike the ornaments upon the handles, the furniture, chariots, etc., shown by the reliefs of Nineveh.
Works in bronze of considerable size must have been numerous at that period, as, in 260 B.C., Volsinii alone was in possession of two thousand bronze statues; but only a single example remains of well-attested Etruscan origin, the Capitoline Wolf (Fig. 260); probably the same which, soon after 300 B.C., was consecrated in Rome under the Ruminal fig-tree. It is a hollow cast, which, with great hardness and carefulness of treatment, gives the well-understood character of this animal excellently, almost to the point of caricature. It well illustrates the peculiarities of Etruscan art above described, inasmuch as it sacrifices to realism all artistic beauty. The chimera of Arezzo in Florence, and a griffin in Leyden, are similar in style; but, notwithstanding their Etruscan inscriptions, it is doubtful whether they are of Tuscan workmanship.
