ABSTRACT

The natural materials and mineral resources of the region inhabited by the Etruscans – agriculture, the forest, animal husbandry, fishing, salt-pans, metal-bearing ores, quarries of valuable stone (see Chapter 1) – furnished products in substantial quantities that not only satisfied local demands, but also were extensively exported. The area affected by this development extends from the Mediterranean basin into transalpine Europe: in general, raw materials were shipped from Etruria and manufactured goods of refined artistic value arrived in return. In the same movement, merchants themselves also arrived, as well as commercial agents and, sometimes, master artists. In regard to the latter, the indications offered until now in the archaeological literature are either general comments or refer only to individual cases (Szilágyi 1972, pp. 70–71; Cristofani 1976; Torelli 1976; Colonna 1980–1981 (1982); Canciani 19 81; Martelli 1981; Maggiani, in Bocci – Maggiani 19 85, pp. 51–54; Colonna, in Colonna – v. Hase 19 86; Torelli 20 00; Bellelli 2004; Iaia 2005, pp. 234–236; Lulof 20 05; Ridgway 2010, p. 52; Maggiani 2011). In this chapter I will seek to briefly outline an overall picture, tracing the phenomenon from the earliest to the latest manifestations of Etruscan civilization. The starting point is not clear-cut: in Etruria, signatures of native artists are rare (on these, see Colonna 1975; Pfiffig 1976; Cristofani 19 88; Martelli 19 89; Colonna 1993; Bruni 2005), and those of foreign artists working in Etruria are especially rare. Obviously, the signatures of artists on goods made abroad and imported into Etruria will not be taken into account here, though they are not infrequent (Phoenico-Cypriot bowls of the seventh century bc, Greek black- and red-figure vases). The theory has occasionally been advanced that Greek potters and painters could have produced in Etruria some of the vases found there and attributed to them, but this has often not been based on concrete evidence. The many suggestions offered in its wake, by a variety of scholars, are occasionally certain, at other times merely likely or simply hypothetical.