#1566CE

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Etruscan Bronze Sculpture

The Etruscans produced bronze goods going back to the Villanovan period (1100-750 BCE) and used the material for all manner of objects, but it is their figure sculptures which have become some of the star attractions in museums worldwide. Bronze was a highly desirable material throughout antiquity and easily melted down for reuse so that it is even more remarkable that such fine works as the Chimera of Arezzo and Mars of Todi have survived to bear testimony today of the exquisite artistry of Italy's first great civilization.

Manufacture

Etruria was fortunate to have rich metal resources, especially copper, iron, lead, and silver. The early Etruscans put these to good use and bronze was used to manufacture a wide range of goods such as tools, weapons, armour, coinage, jewellery, hand fans, oil lamps, incense burners, mirrors, tripods, everyday dishes and utensils, cauldrons, horse bits, chests, and even chariots. Bronze was hammered, cut, cast using moulds or the lost-wax technique, embossed, engraved and riveted in a full range of techniques.

Beginning in the mid-8th century BCE, Etruscan artists benefitted from contact with Greek settlers (especially Euboeans) and traders from Phoenicia, Sardinia, Egypt, central Europe, and the Balkans. This brought technological refinements in metalwork and a whole new range of art ideas.

Many Etruscan towns set up workshops specialising in the production of bronze works and these included Acquarossa, Cerveteri, Chiusi, Populonia, Tarquinia, Vulci, Volsinii, and Volterra. To give an idea of the scale of production, the Romans were said to have looted more than 2,000 bronze statues when they attacked Volsinii (modern Orvieto) in 264 BCE, melting them down for coinage.

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