Tomb of the Leopards

Tomb of the Leopards
Tomb of the Leopards
Confronted leopards above a banqueting scene in the Tomb of the Leopards
Tomb of the Leopards
Shown within Italy
LocationTarquinia, Lazio, Italy
RegionSouthern Etruria
Coordinates42°15′02″N 11°46′12″E / 42.25056°N 11.77000°E / 42.25056; 11.77000
TypeNecropolis
History
Founded5th century BC
Site notes
ManagementSoprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Etruria Meridionale
WebsiteMuseum and Necropolis of Tarquinia and Cerveteri
TypeCultural
Criteriai, iii, iv
Reference no.1158
RegionEurope and North America

The Tomb of the Leopards (Italian: Tomba dei leopardi) is an Etruscan burial chamber so called for the confronted leopards painted above a banquet scene. The tomb is located within the Necropolis of Monterozzi, near Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy, and dates to around 470–450 BC.[1] The painting is one of the best-preserved murals of Tarquinia,[2] and is known for "its lively coloring, and its animated depictions rich with gestures."[3] The subject matter is influenced by the Greek-Attic art of the first quarter of the fifth century BC.[4] This Attic influence extends to the very figures of leopards being a main aspect of the fresco. [5]

Artistic Depiction

Leopards

The Etruscan environment at this time did not include leopards as members of the local ecosystem.[5] Lions and leopards, both commonly referenced in Etruscan artwork as seen in the Tomb of the Lionesses, were likely rarely seen in Etruria. The forms and representations seen are thought to have come from Greek interpretations of hunting leopards popularized in Egypt.[6]

Banqueters

The banqueters are "elegantly dressed" male-female couples attended by two nude boys carrying serving implements. This scene is known as a conjugal symposium, with both men and women included in the banquet.[7] The women are depicted with fair-skin and the men with a darker complexion, in keeping with the gender conventions established in Archaic Greece, Ancient Near East and Ancient Egypt. The arrangement of the three couples prefigures the triclinium of Roman dining.[2] Scholarly controversy surrounded this particular banquet scene with some arguing the women represented were hetaira[8] or courtesans, with other more recent scholars arguing they are equal free women.[9]

Musician Scene

Musicians are pictured on the walls to the left and right of the banquet.[2] On the right, a komos of wreathed figures and musicians approach the banquet; on the left, six musicians and gift bearers appear in a statelier procession.[10] The musicians carry an aulos and a chelys lyra, both of which are commonly depicted in tandem during Etruscan banquet and funerary scenes.[11] Because of the materiality of these instruments, most being made of bone or wood, the majority of archeological evidence comes through scenes like this one.[11] Along with the musicians, one of the figures is thought to be a eulogizer, singing is consistent with various Etruscan tombs.[12]

Symbolism

The man on the far-right couch holds up an egg, symbol of regeneration,[2] and other banqueters hold wreaths.[13] The scene is usually taken to represent the deceased's funerary banquet, or a family meal that would be held on the anniversary of his death. It is presented as a celebration of life,[2] while Etruscan banquet scenes in earlier tombs have a more somber character.[14] The scene appears to take place outdoors, within slender trees and vegetation, perhaps under a canopy.[15]

Although the figures are distinctly Etruscan,[2] the artist of the central banquet draws on trends in Greek art and marks a transition from Archaic to Early Classical style in Etruscan art.[16] The processions on the left and right are more markedly Archaic and were executed by different artists.[17]

Historical Discussion

The tomb was discovered in 1875. In the 1920s, D. H. Lawrence described the painting in his travel essays Sketches of Etruscan Places:

The walls of this little tomb are a dance of real delight. The room seems inhabited still by Etruscans of the sixth century before Christ,[18] a vivid, life-accepting people, who must have lived with real fullness. On come the dancers and the music-players, moving in a broad frieze towards the front wall of the tomb, the wall facing us as we enter from the dark stairs, and where the banquet is going on in all its glory. … So that all is color, and we do not seem to be underground at all, but in some gay chamber of the past.[19]

  • Dancer and musicians
  • A psykter found in the Tomb of the Leopards, depicting an athlete, a servant boy, a youth and a dog
  • A fresco depicting a spotted Leopard
  • Detail of the banquet scene
  • The ceiling is adorned with colorful patterns of red, black, yellow, and blue squares
  • Detail of the banquet scene
  • Detail of fresco depicting servants carrying wine jugs and playing musical pipes for the guests.

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tomba dei Leopardi (Tarquinia).
  1. ^ Fred S. Kleiner, A History of Roman Art (Wadsworth, 2010), p. xxxv; Otto J. Brendel, Etruscan Art (Yale University Press, 1995), p. 269; Luisa Banti, Etruscan Cities and Their Culture (University of California Press, 1973), p. 79.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kleiner, A History of Roman Art, p. xxxv.
  3. ^ Stephan Steingräber, Abundance of Life: Etruscan Wall Painting (Getty Publications, 2006), p. 133.
  4. ^ Alessandro Naso, La pittura etrusca, Roma, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2005, pp. 37-38. (Italian)
  5. ^ a b Vermeule, Cornelius (1961). ""Etruscan Leopards and Lions"". Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts. 59 (315): 13–21 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ Brown, W. Llewellyn (1960). ""The Etruscan Lion"". Oxford Monographs on Classical Archeology: 165–171.
  7. ^ D'Agostino, Bruno (1989). ""Image and Society in Archaic Etruria"". The Journal of Roman Studies. 79: 1–10 – via JSTOR.
  8. ^ Poulson, Frederik (1922). Etruscan Tomb Paintings, Their Subjects and Significance. Oxford Clarendon Press. p. 33.
  9. ^ Warren, Bonfante Larissa (1973). ""Etruscan Women: A Question of Interpretation"". Archeology. 26 (4): 242–249 – via JSTOR.
  10. ^ Steingräber, Abundance of Life, p. 133. The narrative of the three walls reads from right to left, as does the written Etruscan language.
  11. ^ a b Tobin, Frederick (2013). ""Music and Musical Instruments in Etruria"". The Etruscan World – via Taylor-Francis.
  12. ^ Torelli, Mario (1999). ""Funera Tusca: Reality and Representation in Archaic Tarquinian Painting"". Studies in the History of Art. 56: 146–61 – via JSTOR.
  13. ^ Steingräber, Abundance of Life, p. 133.
  14. ^ Brendel, Etruscan Art, p. 269.
  15. ^ Kleiner, A History of Roman Art, p. xxxv; Brendel, Etruscan Art, p. 269.
  16. ^ Brendel, Etruscan Art, p. 270.
  17. ^ Steingräber, Abundance of Life, p. 134.
  18. ^ Lawrence's date is a century earlier than current scholarly consensus, as noted above.
  19. ^ D. H. Lawrence, Sketches of Etruscan Places and other Italian Essays in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of D. H. Lawrence, edited by Simonetta de Filippis (Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 47–48.
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