Etruscan Sculpture

The primary focus of Etruscan sculpture was the human body. In this sense, the main interest of Etruscan sculptors was similar to that of their Greek neighbors, but the result was often strikingly different. Etruscan sculptural display, at least as it has been preserved, was closely connected to religious observance, to funerary ritual, and to votive religion and thus has been found almost exclusively in either mortuary or sanctuary contexts. Etruscan art as a whole is remarkably varied, and sculpture is no less heterogeneous, thus defying easy taxonomy and any single chronological developmental organization. There are indeed great differences over time, as one might expect of artistic traditions that lasted almost a millennium, but there is no sense of a single stylistic development except in cases of works that are strongly influenced by Greek art. There are great regional differences as well, with dramatic differences of both style and form from one urban center to another. One of the defining characteristics of Etruscan sculpture is in fact the strength of regional traditions, which may be connected to Etruscan urbanism as well as remarkably different regional reactions to external influences from the Near East in the late 8th and 7th centuries bce and from Greece from the 6th century onward.