- Alexandra A. Carpino –
Figure 55.7 Detail of the heads of the lid fi gures (a married couple) on a terracotta cinerary urn
from Volterra, late second-early fi rst century bce. Museo Etrusco Guarnacci, Volterra, Inv. 613.
(Photograph: author).equal to the modern, materialized in Etruscan art for the fi rst time in history.”^31 Moreover,
when the survival of a skeleton – such as the one found in the sarcophagus of Seianti
Hanunia Tlesnasa – provided scholars with the opportunity to test the veracity of the
Etruscans’ portraiture, they discovered that the artist who crafted her face modeled her
features to refl ect her facial proportions and some aspects of her physical appearance and
her age.^32 Thus, it is diffi cult not to see the individualized faces of many of the named and
anonymous Etruscans from this period as being true to life.
PORTRAITS IN SANCTUARY CONTEXTSThe Etruscans never went before “the gods empty-handed,”^33 and one of the most
common types of offerings in their shrines from the early fi fth-fi rst centuries bce were
either hand-sculpted or mold-made terracotta votive heads and busts.^34 The earliest
examples appear to have been produced in Veii,^35 and as with their funerary counterparts,
they “offer a rare confi rmation of identity in votive images.”^36 While many of these heads
“were inexpensive and easily duplicated items...deposited by a cross section of society”^37
who could not afford a customized gift, Ingrid Edlund-Berry recently observed that
“the variety of facial features, even on mold-made heads where the details were added
individually, suggests an effort made by the artist to make each head unique, perhaps
even as a portrait of the dedicant.”^38 For this reason, in spite of the manner of their
production,^39 Brendel considered these heads as “portrait[s] of a kind,” especially since
the attributes of physiognomy, age and personality incorporated into the customized
versions must have been intended to represent “satisfactory likenesses.”^40 Frequently
cited in this respect are some of the terracotta heads from the Manganello deposit at
Cerveteri^41 where the same mold was used to portray youths, young women and old
men”^42 and contrasting likenesses were created through incised retouching. As noted by
Helen Nagy, these heads represent “individualized portraits that depict specifi c aspects
of the donor’s appearance. These need not have been modeled directly on an individual’s
physiognomy, but they were probably ‘customized’, in some cases at least, to emphasize
the salient recognizable features.”^43 Other terracotta votive heads, however, “clearly show