Fun Fact Friday graphic - Etruscans broke away from the Greek tradition of idealized youthful bodies by sculpting more realistic mature versions of their subjects. This was also later seen in Roman sculpture.
Fun Fact Friday

Fun Fact Friday: The Etruscans and Sculpture

September 14, 2018 / No Comments

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. 

Fun Fact Friday graphic - Etruscans broke away from the Greek tradition of idealized youthful bodies by sculpting more realistic mature versions of their subjects. This was also later seen in Roman sculpture.

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. 

The Diskobolos, Roman copy of Greek bronze statue, 450 BCE.
The Diskobolos, Roman copy of Greek bronze statue, 450 BCE. (British Museum, London)
Brutus, bronze bust, 300 BCE. Etruscans Sculpture
Brutus, bronze bust, 300 BCE. (Capitoline Museums, Rome)
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, large bronze gilded statue, 176 BCE.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, large bronze gilded statue, 176 BCE. (Capitoline Museums, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome).

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!

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