Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller.

  • Karl Otfried Müller
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ancient art and its remains, or, A manual of the archaeology of art / By C.O. Müller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    175/664
    bourhood of Chiusi, now in Berlin; similar tv. 23—26. Sepulchral re- liefs, tav. 48. 49, Gorgon masks, 60. 51.] Rudely executed and obscene reliefs on a wall of rock at Corneto, Journ. des Sav. 1829. Mars. To this class belong the antique figures of animals, sphinxes and men hewn out of a sort of peperino which are found on the Cocumella and the entrances of the sepulchres of Yolci, M. I. d. Inst. tv. 41, 9. 12. Micali, tv. 57, 7. 3. The urns were of alabaster (Volaterrae), calcareous tufa, travertine, and very often of terracotta (Clusium). The subjects: 1. From the Greek, chiefly the tragic mythology, with frequent reference to death and the infernal world; moreover Etruscan figures of Mania, Mantus (Charun) with the hammer, the furies. Ambrosch de Charonte Etr. Vratisl. 1837. 4to. E. Braun Ann. ix. p. 253. [Charon XAPV, on an Etruscan vase together with the death of Ajax, and with Penthesilea, Mon. del I. ii, 9. Ann. vi. p. 274. On an amphora with Alcestis Cha- ron with his hammer beside another death-demon with a serpent. But on an earthen cista Charon appears with hammer and the oar, which was denied by Ambrosch; the entrance for the dead enwreathed with skulls of animals. Charon's hammer, Archaol. Zeit. 1846. s. 350.] 2. Scenes of splendour from life: triumphal processions, pomps, banquets. 3. Repre- sentations of death and the life to come: leave-takings; death-scenes; journeys on horseback, on sea-monsters. 4. Fantastic figures and mere decorations. The composition mostly skilful, the execution rude. The same groups are repeated with different signification. The reclining figures above (accumbentes) are often portraits, hence the disproportioned size of the heads. The Bacchian worship was already banished from Italy at the time of these works; only one older sarcophagus from Tarquinii (Micali, tv. 59, 1) has the figure of a priest of Bacchus on the lid. The inscriptions mostly contain merely the names of the deceased, in a later character. (The Etruscan language and character perished after Augustus, and before Julian.) Uhden, Abhandl. der Akad. von Berlin vom J. 1816. B. 25. 1818. s. 1. 1827. s. 201. 1828. s. 233. 1829. s. 67. Inghir. i. and vi. V 2. Micali, tv. 59. 60.104—112. Several pubHshed by Zoega (Bassir. i. tv. 38—40, R. Rochette, Clarac and others. Individual examples, §. 397. 412, 2. 416, 2. 431. and elsewhere. [Urns from Cere, Bomarzo and other places partly of clay, Mus. Gregor. i. tv. 92—97. Those of a tomb at Perugia, with inscriptions. Bull. 1845. p. 106.] 175. The Etruscans, who took pains to adorn the body in l every way, and were therefore very fond of rings, practised engraving on precious stones at an early period; several scar- 2 aba;i of the oldest style, judging from the characters inscribed on them and the places where they were found, are decidedly Etruscan. The steps by which the art advanced, have been 3 stated above (§. 97); on the highest which the Etruscans at- tained there is combined an admirable delicacy of execution with a predilection for violent postures and overcharged dis- play of the muscles, whereby even the choice of the subjects was mostly determined. Circular plates of gold also, with en- 4