Alessandro François (1796–1857) was an Italian archaeologist. He was also a scholar, artist, engineer, and war commissioner of the

Grand Duke of Tuscany Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), se ...

in the mid-19th century.

Biography

François was born in 1796 in Florence, then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Throughout his life, François undertook a number of occupations, including as a mining engineer. After travelling widely in his youth, François decided in 1825 to excavate

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

sites, including

Cosa Cosa was an ancient Roman city near the present Ansedonia in southwestern Tuscany, Italy. It is sited on a hill 113 m above sea level and 140 km northwest of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast. It has assumed a position of prominence in Ro ...

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan language, Etr ...

Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History ...

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. ...

Vetulonia Vetulonia, formerly called Vetulonium ( Etruscan: ''Vatluna''), was an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, the site of which is probably occupied by the modern village of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name of Colonnata and Colonna di Buriano: t ...

Populonia Populonia or Populonia Alta ( Etruscan: ''Pupluna'', ''Pufluna'' or ''Fufluna'', all pronounced ''Fufluna''; Latin: ''Populonium'', ''Populonia'', or ''Populonii'') today is a of the ''comune'' of Piombino (Tuscany, central Italy). As of 2009 its ...

Chiusi Chiusi ( Etruscan: ''Clevsin''; Umbrian: ''Camars''; Ancient Greek: ''Klysion'', ''Κλύσιον''; Latin: ''Clusium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy. History Clusium (''Clevsin or Camars'' in Etruscan) ...

and

Vulci Vulci or Volci ( Etruscan: ''Velch'' or ''Velx'', depending on the romanization used) was a rich Etruscan city in what is now northern Lazio, central Italy. As George Dennis wrote, "Vulci is a city whose very name... was scarcely remembered, ...

. He discovered several black-figure vase fragments in 1844 at Fonte Rotelle near Chiusi. He discovered more fragments in 1845, and the pieces were assembled into a complete vase of the highest quality, subsequently named after him, which was purchased by

Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II, , English: ''Leopold John Joseph Francis Ferdinand Charles''. (3 October 1797 – 29 January 1870) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1824 to 1859. He married twice; first to Maria Anna of Saxony, and after her death in 1832, to Mari ...

, in 1846 for the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of ...

. In 1857, François discovered a spectacular painted Etruscan tomb, which has also been named after him. François created his own excavation society and kept his finds in his home in Florence. Numerous attempts to found a museum to house his finds failed, despite his appealing to potential sponsors in Italy and to the French government. While in Florence, François fell ill and died at the age of 60 or 61. He left no published writing.

Discoveries

The François Vase

François found the large

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

volute A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an ...

krater A krater or crater (, ; , ) was a large two-handled type of vase in Pottery of ancient Greece, Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, kraters were placed in ...

in 1844 near

in one of his most famous excavations, and it takes its name from him. This masterpiece of

black-figure pottery Black-figure pottery painting (also known as black-figure style or black-figure ceramic; ) is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th a ...

is the work of

Ergotimos Ergotimos (Έργότιμος) was a Greek potter, active in Athens, ''circa'' 570–560 BC. His son Eucharios was also a potter, as was a grandson whose name is not known. The following works signed by him are known: * Berlin, Antikensammlung ...

(potter) and Kleitias (painter), and is dated to circa 560-550 BCE. It measures in height and in maximum circumference; on it are represented, on horizontal bands,

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

figures and Homeric episodes.

The François Tomb

Tomba Francois - Liberazione di Celio Vibenna

Another important find by François was the

tomb at

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

which also takes his name. The tomb is decorated with paintings representing battles between

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in List of ancient peoples of Italy, ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. Af ...

, and scenes of execution of Trojan prisoners. One of the figures in the tomb represents Mastarna (a legendary figure whom the Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

identified with

Servius Tullius Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned from 578 to 535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Pri ...

References

Bibliography

* ''Il vaso François'' (The François Vase), Antonio Minto, Firenze, Leo Olschki, 1960 * ''François, Alessandro'', Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology, Nancy Thomson de Grummond, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 461–62

External links

* * * Archaeologists from Florence Linguists of Etruscan 1796 births 1857 deaths {{Italy-archaeologist-stub