- chapter 63: Modern approaches to Etruscan culture –
vases, statues and jewels. Finally, Napoleon III decided to buy all of the remaining
collections, some 11,835 objects and 646 paintings. By imperial decree, the Campana
collection was bought by France in 1861. The Campana collection left Italy to occupy
the Palace of Industry in Paris, inaugurated in 1853, but, victim of jealousies and diverse
schemes, the establishment rapidly closed its doors. In 1862, Napoleon III decided to
share out the collection according to its content between the Louvre and the provinces
of France.
It was the end of etruscheria and the beginning of the takeover of data on the Etruscans
by scholars and institutions. In 1877, K. O. Müller’s book on the Etruscans (Die Etrusker,
Göttingen, 1828) was published at almost the same time as the second or the third
edition of the fi rst volume of Niebuhr’s Roman history, and it was later revised and
updated by W. Deecke (Die Etrusker, Stuttgart, 1877). It met the demands of savants and
students, by presenting Etruscan infl uence on Roman political and religious institutions
and showing the Etruscans as stemming from a mixture said to be between a Nordic
population, the Rasenna, and an Eastern population, the Tyrrheni.
ETRUSCOLOGY AND EUROPEAN NATIONS IN THE
TWENTIETH CENTURYBut the real birth of Etruscology was mainly the result of the chance discovery, between
1914 and 1920, of fragments of monumental statues in Veii. These statues, which did
not fi t the patterns of classical art, suddenly promoted Etruscan art to the rank of art that
is original and timeless, art that is quite different from the provincial and minor art it had
seemed to embody thus far in relation to the canons of classical Greek art. This viewpoint,
inherited from J. J. Winckelmann, could be explained by the importance granted at the
time to artistic personalities. Veian statues changed the point of view: they were thought
to be the work of the Etruscan sculptor, Vulca, and their originality is interpreted through
the prism of modern and African art. Thanks to the art historians R. Bianchi Bandinelli
and G. Kaschnitz-Weinberg who discussed the cubist and expressionist character of
the so-called bust of Brutus, the anti-classical character of Etruscan works began to be
appreciated. This reappraisal had repercussions on overall research on the Etruscans. After
art, the Etruscan language was considered for itself.
Recognizing Etruscan originality encouraged Etruscologists to make their discipline
independent by giving it scientifi c legitimacy. The organization of conferences and
the publication of a scientifi c journal contributed to the creation of university chairs
of Etruscology. A. Minto, superintendent of Antiquities of Etruria, thanks to funding
granted by the Director of the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena, turned the Ente per le attività
toscane, operating in Florence, into a Comitato Permanente per l’Etruria. In 1925, he became
chairman of this committee to promote and coordinate all the initiatives on Etruscan
civilization. This was instrumental in the founding of a journal exclusively devoted to
Etruscology, Studi Etruschi, whose publication began in 1927. In 1926, the year when the
fi rst Convegno nazionale etrusco was held in Florence, a chair of Etruscology was created at
the University of Rome. In 1928, the fi rst congresso internazionale etrusco was organized in
Bologna. In 1932, the standing committee for Etruria was transformed into the Istituto di
Studi Etruschi, which was dedicated to organizing round tables on specifi c subjects and to
launching index projects. In 1935, a chair of Etruscology was established in Florence, on
the proposal made by the chief education offi cer to the minister of education.