Etruscan vase painting was produced from the 7th through the 4th centuries BC, and is a major element in
Etruscan art. It was strongly influenced by
Greek vase painting
Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has exe ...
, and followed the main trends in style over the period. Besides being producers in their own right, the
Etruscans were the main export market for Greek pottery outside Greece, and some Greek painters probably moved to
Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
, where richly decorated vases were a standard element of grave inventories.
Black-figure vase painting
The local production of Etruscan vases probably began in the 7th century BC. Initially, the vases followed examples of
black-figure vase painting
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...
from
Corinth and
East Greece. It is assumed that in the earliest phase, vases were produced mainly by immigrants from Greece. The first major style was so-called
Pontic vase painting. This was followed between 530 and 500 BC by the
Micali Painter and his workshop. They mainly produced
amphora
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
e, ''
hydriai'' and jugs. Depictions included
komasts,
symposia
''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898.
Species
it contains six species in Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic o ...
and animal friezes. Mythological motifs occur more rarely, but are already created with great care. By this time, Etruscan vase painting had begun to take its main influence from
Attic vase painting
Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has exe ...
. The black-figure style ended about 480 BC. In its final phase, it had developed a tendency to mannerism and a sloppy silhouette style of drawing.
Red-figure vase painting
An imitative adoption of the
red-figure technique only developed in Etruria around 490 BC, nearly half a century after that style had been invented in Greece. Early produce is described as pseudo-red-figure Etruscan vase painting, due to its differing technique. Only by the end of the 5th century was the true red-figure technique introduced to Etruria. For both pseudo- and true red-figure, numerous painters, workshops and production centres have been recognised. Vases were not just produced for the local market, but also sold to
Malta,
Carthage,
Rome and the
Ligurian coast.
Pseudo-red-figure vase painting
Early vessels of this style merely imitated the red-figure technique. As on some early Attic vases, this was achieved by covering the whole vase body in black shiny
slip, then adding figures on top, using paints that would oxidise into red or white during firing. In true red-figure, the red areas were left free of slip. In pseudo-red-figure, internal details were marked by incision, similar to the usual practice in black-figure vase painting, rather than painted on, as in true red-figure. Important representatives of this style were the
Praxias Painter and other masters of
his workshop, which was located at
Vulci. In spite of their extensive knowledge of Greek
mythology and iconography - not always executed perfectly - there is no evidence that these masters were Greek immigrants. An exception is the Praxias Painter himself: since four of his vases bear painted inscriptions in Greek, he may have been of Greek origin.
In Etruria, the pseudo-red-figure style was not just an early phenomenon, as it had been in Athens. Especially in the 4th century BC, some workshops specialised in this technique, although true red-figure was widespread in Etruscan workshops at the same time. Examples include the workshops of the
Sokra Group and the
Phantom Group. The somewhat older Sokra Group had a preference for cups with interior images from Greek mythology, sometimes also with Etruscan motifs. The Phantom Group mostly painted cloaked figures in combination with compositions of plant or
palmette patterns. The workshops of both groups are supposed to have been located in
Caere,
Falerii and
Tarquinia. The Phantom Group produced its wares until the early 3rd century BC. Changing tastes on the buyers' part spelled the end not just of true red-figure but also of this style.
Red-figure vase painting
Only towards the end of the 5th century was the true red-figure technique, with the figures as reserved areas remaining in the actual clay colour, introduced to Etruria. The first such workshops developed in
Vulci and
Falerii, but also produced for surrounding areas. The original workshops were probably founded by Attic masters, but the early vessels also already display a
South Italian
, altname =
, states = Italy
, region = Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Marche, Molise
, ethnicity = ''Mezzogiorno'' Ethnic Italians
, speakers = 5.7 million
, date ...
influence. These workshops dominated the Etruscan market until the 4th century BC. Large and medium format vessels like
kraters and jugs were mostly decorated with mythological scenes. During the course of the century, the production of Falerii began to outclass that of Vulci in terms of quantity. New centres of production developed in
Chiusi and
Orvieto
Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...
. Chiusi became especially important through the
Tondo Group, which produced drinking cups with mostly
dionysiac motifs on the inside. In the second half of the century, production moved to
Volterra. Here, especially a certain type of craters, the ''
kelebes'' were produced and initially painted very elaborately.
In the second half of the 4th century BC, mythological themes disappeared from the repertoire of Etruscan vase painters. They were replaced with women's heads and figural depictions of not more than two persons. Instead, the vase bodies were now mostly covered with ornamental and floral motifs. Larger compositions now only occurred in exceptional cases, such as the
amazonomachy on a krater by the
Hague Funnel Group Painter. The initially, still substantial, production of Falerii lost its dominant role to the newly founded production centre at
Caere. The Caere workshops were probably founded by masters from Falerii; they lacked a separate tradition but became the main centre of red-figure vase production in Etruria. Its standard repertoire included simply painted ''
oinochoai
An oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe ( grc, οἰνοχόη; from grc, οἶνος ''oînos'', "wine" and grc, χέω ''khéō'', "I pour," sense "wine-pourer"; plural ''oinochoai''; New Latin ''oenochoë,'' plural ''oenochoae,'' English plura ...
'', ''
lekythoi
A lekythos (plural lekythoi) is a type of ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil (Greek λήκυθος), especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no po ...
'' and drinking cups (e.g. by the
Torcop Group), and small plates (
Genucuilia Group). By the end of the 4th century, a change in consumer tastes led to a shift towards the production of
black-glazed ware
Black-glazed ware is a type of ancient Greek fine pottery. The modern term describes vessels covered with a shiny black slip.
Black-glazed pottery was produced especially in the Classical and Hellenistic periods. During the reducing phase of the ...
, which marked the end of red-figure vase production in Etruria.
[Huberta Heres – Max Kunze (Hrsg.): ''Die Welt der Etrusker, Archäologische Denkmäler aus Museen der sozialistischen Länder''. Ausstellungskatalog Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR – Altes Museum vom 04. Oktober bis 30. Dezember 1988. Berlin 1988, p. 249–263]
Bibliography
* Matthias Steinhart: ''Schwarzfigurige Vasenmalerei II. Ausserattisch''. In:
Der Neue Pauly
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Places
* Darkənd, Azerbaijan
* Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US
* Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq
* d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...
, vol. 11, cols. 276-281.
References
{{Authority control
Ancient Greek vase-painting styles
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