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November 27th - The History of Art - Etruscan Art

By Melissa Markham on November 27, 2007 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today, we are going to move from Greece to Italy and look at the Classical Art of the Etruscans. Etruscan civilization flourished in western Italy from c.900- c. 100 BC. Ancient Etruria encompassed modern Tuscany and parts of Umbria.

Etruscan art was mostly figurative art. They used terracotta, bronze, and wall-painting for most of their artistic endeavors.Etruscan art was influenced by the Asian, Greeks, and Roman civilizations. Red-figure painting was a technique for decorating pottery that had been initiated in Athens during the Greek period and remained common practice during Roman times. Prior to that, the decorative method had been "black-figure painting," in which artists painted their work in black pigment onto a base of red clay.

Red Figure painting

Black Figure painting.

It is important to remember that much of Etruscan art did not survive to present day. Most of what we have been able to find has been funerary items which can give us a skewed example of what their art was like. Just like in present day, the more money you had, the better your funerary items, so we are not really getting an example of everyday art. A lot of the art found today deals with gods and goddesses and how to please them. This presents us with a skewed view of Etruscan art work because the religious artwork is what has mostly survived.

Here you will find a lesson plan to practice the red and black figure painting methods. It is geared towards 8th - 12th graders, but can be used with younger ages very easily.

Scholastic offers some wonderful information on this topic as well! It is geared towards grades 4-6.

Remember, if you want to check out other Art History posts, be sure to click on the Art History category in my right side bar! Art is fun and we can all enjoy learning together!