The François Tomb is an important painted
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 ...
tomb from the Ponte Rotto Necropolis in the Etruscan city of
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, ...
,
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 ...
, in central Italy. It was discovered in 1857 by
Alessandro François and
Adolphe Noël des Vergers. It dates to the last quarter of the fourth century BC. The tomb seems to belong to the Etruscan family of the Saties (or Seties) and one of its chief occupants is Vel Saties, who appears with his dwarf, Arnza.
Its outstanding frescoes are significant both iconographically and also in terms of their comments on Etruscan history and identity.

The tomb contains a fresco depicting
Caelius Vibenna Caelius Vibenna ( Etruscan ''Caile Vipina'') was a noble Etruscan who lived (but see below) and was a brother of Aulus Vibenna ( Etruscan ''Avile Vipina'').
Upon arriving at Rome, Vibenna aided Romulus in his wars against Titus Tatius. He and h ...
(whom the
Romans believed the
Caelian Hill
The Caelian Hill ( ; ; ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome.
Geography
The Caelian Hill is a moderately long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill overlooks a plateau from wh ...
was named after) and 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 ...
).
The tomb paintings include a representation of 'Marce Camitlas' (Latin equivalent 'Marcus Camillus') about to draw his sword against a crouching 'Cneve Tarchunies Rumach' ('Gnaeus
Tarquinius
The gens Tarquinia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, usually associated with Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the fifth and seventh Kings of Rome. Most of the Tarquinii who appear in history are connected in some wa ...
of Rome'). The ancient histories of Rome do not include any reference to a 'Gnaeus Tarquinius'.
The frescos were removed by Prince Torlonia soon after their discovery and were kept in the
Torlonia Museum (Rome). Since 1946, they have been stored at the private
Villa Albani
The Villa Albani (later Villa Albani-Torlonia) is a villa in Rome, built on the Via Salaria for Cardinal Alessandro Albani. It was built between 1747 and 1767 by the architect Carlo Marchionni in a project heavily influenced by otherssuch as Gi ...
in Rome as part of the Torlonia collection.
Some pottery vessels from the tomb are now in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
.
British Museum Collection
/ref>
See also
* Etruscan art
Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct charact ...
* Isis Tomb, Vulci
References
Sources
*Bloom, Marcia G. 1974. ''The François tomb at Vulci, an Etrusco-Hellenistic monument''. Thesis/dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
*Holliday, Peter James. 1993. ''Narrative and event in ancient art''. Cambridge University Press.
Further reading
*http://www.instoria.it/home/FrancoisII.htm
*http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/francois.html
*'' Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.''
*F. Messerschmidt, A. von Gerkan, Nekropolen von Vulci, Berlin, 1930;
*M.Cristofani, research on paintings of François Vulci grave. The decorative friezes, in Diala, 1, 1967, pp. 189–219
*S. Steingräber, Catalogue raisonné of Etruscan painting, Milan, 1984, pp. 380–387;
*Peter J. Holliday, Narrative structures in the François tomb, in ''Narrative and event in ancient art'', Cambridge, 1988, pp. 175–197;
*F. Coarelli, ''Revixit Ars. Art and Ideology in Rome. By Hellenistic models to the republican tradition'', Rome, 1996, pp. 138–178;
*S. Steingräber, Etruscan frescoes, from the geometric to the Hellenistic period, San Giovanni Lupatoto, 2006, pp. 68 et seq;
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francois Tomb
Etruscan artefacts
Etruscan tombs
Archaeological sites in Lazio
1857 archaeological discoveries
Vulci