
Fun Fact Friday: The Etruscans and Sculpture
Happy Friday! Did you know that the ancient civilization of the Etruscans is my favorite civilization? If you answered no that means you probably haven’t been following along with my blog this past month. You can go catch up over here.
This week a little bit about their sculpture and how it relates to both Greek and Roman art.

Here’s a quick visual comparison of the styles of each civilization. As any civilization, the artworks varied throughout the duration of their existence. However these seem to be a few generalizations or patterns that can be seen for each.
Greek
Greek sculptors portrayed figures in idealized youthful forms. They broke away from earlier styles of rigid postures and began to portray people/Gods in a contrapposto stance – a more relaxed asymmetrical stance where the weight of the body is shifted to one side and the knee is bent (this may be a bit of an exaggerated example of that since he’s in the process of throwing a disc).
Etruscan
Similar to what I shared last week about the portrait paintings of the Etruscans, they also began to show individual characteristics of their subjects in their sculptures. Many pieces of art began to show aged figures with subtle wrinkles, really emphasizing the real over the idealized.
Roman
Roman sculpture carried on many characteristics of Etruscan art. They continued to portray their subjects with a maturity and dignity seen in Etruscan art. They were also known to replicate many the of the Greek works we see today. The large difference with later Roman sculpture seems to be just that – large. Romans began to create sculptures that were larger than life-size.



Do you have a favorite civilization out of the three? Leave me a comment or find me over on social media and let me know!
Resources & Further Learning
- Cartwright, M. (2017, September 04). Etruscan Art. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Etruscan_Art/
- Cartwright, M. (2013, August 25). Roman Sculpture. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Sculpture/
- Cartwright, M. (2018, March 15). Ancient Greek Sculpture. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Sculpture/
- The Mysterious Etruscans [Documentary Series]. (2016). United States: The Great Courses. Retrieved from https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-mysterious-etruscans.html
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