- chapter 48: Foreign artists in Etruria –
wine service are found in Etruria (kraters, large jars, jugs, cups), all made with the potter’s
wheel and decorated with the same geometric ornaments but in local clay (Coldstream
1968; La Rocca 1973–1974; La Rocca 1982; Isler 1983; Rizzo 1989). It is very likely
that they are the work of Euboean potters and/or painters, practicing their profession in
Etruria to accede to the demands of a (rich) local clientele that has now been introduced
to the symposium. Along with the Euboean masters others probably also arrived from
Argos, because some vases for symposium service are painted with motifs from the Argive
geometric repertoire, for example, the angular panels decorated with zig-zag or birds,
and leaf-like fi sh (pesce-foglia) (Colonna 1980; Isler 1983, pp. 26–28).
In the fi rst half of the seventh century bc, Greek potters were active at Caere (cf.
Chapter 52). We are certain of some of foreign origin: the case of the artist Aristonothos
(Euboean? Attic? Cycladic?) who has a Greek name and signed his work in Greek
(language and alphabet), and Greek formula (Aristonothos epoiesen) on a krater circa 670–
660 bc that depicts the blinding of Polyphemos on the front and a battle between two
ships on the reverse. Other vase painters active in southern Etruria (Caere) in the fi rst half
of the seventh century bc – the Painters of the Cranes, of the Fishes (of Civitavecchia, of
Stockholm, and of Amsterdam), of the Heptachord – show in their repertoire that they
have assimilated the developments of Proto-Attic and Cycladic painting (Martelli 1984;
1987a; 1987b; 1988; 2001): very likely under the tutelage of Greek masters (present
in Etruria?). They are the transmitters of an event of great cultural importance: the
introduction of Greek myth into Etruria, a happy result that will become widely diffused
in the following years (see Chapter 24).
The Regolini-Galassi Tomb of Caere and the Barberini and Bernardini Tombs of
Praeneste are dated to the second quarter of the seventh century bc. They are usually
called “princely tombs” for the richness of their contents and the precious materials of
many of the fi nds (see Chapter 6). Notable among these are the bowls of gold, gilded
silver, and silver, produced by the workshops of Phoenicia and/or Cyprus (cf. Figs 6.8
and 6.9). The decoration, in repoussé and incision, is distributed in shallow concentric
friezes and consists of processions of animals or narrative scenes such as the royal hunt,
hunting of monsters, armed combats, the parade of warriors on foot, on horseback or
in chariots, which are all scenes located in a carefully observed, naturalistic setting.
The same motifs were used in the decoration of vases in precious metal, in forms not
Phoenician or Cypriot in origin but rather Corinthian (kotylai): that is to say, the master is
a Phoenician, who knew the technique and decorative repertoire for working in precious
metal, but functioned in an environment in which the vases available to him as models
were Corinthian forms (cf. Fig. 6.35). Etruria, and Caere in Etruria, seems the most
likely place for these accomplishments (Martelli 1973; Camporeale 2006, pp. 100–103),
since there surely arrived, from diverse regions of the Mediterranean, both the imports
found locally (at Caere) and used as models, and those redistributed into the interior, for
instance, at Praeneste (Camporeale 1998, pp. 42–43; Camporeale 2003a, pp. 14–18).
Also dated to the fi rst half of the seventh century bc are two enthroned statues that
face each other in the front chamber of the Tomb of the Statues at Ceri: carved in stone,
each, with throne, measures 1.23 m in height; they are the oldest examples of Etruscan
monumental sculpture (Colonna – v. Hase 1986). The fact that there are no precedents in
Etruria, their near-life-size scale, the stone-carving, the iconography of the majestically
seated fi gure, are traits that recall Syrian tradition, and imply the work of a Syrian master
(Colonna [– v. Hase] 1986, pp. 52–54). Among other things, contemporary Syrian