Ferenc Pulszky's Lecture on Etruria
London, 1853
Transcription and notes by Andrea Hasznos
Notes to the transcription
The present text has been transcribed from the original manuscript handwritten by an unknown hand up to the middle of page 33, after that Pulszky's hand can be seen. Also, in some places on the first 33 pages insertions and deletions by Pulszky can be seen. The handwriting is somewhat difficult to read in some places and there are many corrections and deletions. It is recommended therefore that those willing to decipher the yet illegible words study the manuscript as well with the transcription. Pulszky's text and spelling was closely followed: his sometimes inconsistent or defective usage of capitals and that of the ordinals (presence or absence of th) has been preserved as well as his punctuation, the latter was corrected where helpful to understanding.
The following signs can be found in the transcription:
numbers of the lines of the manuscript (not present in the original)
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word or part of a word illegible for the transcriber
<,>
used for punctuation marks, letters or words not present in the manuscript but necessary
{,}
used for punctuation marks which are present in the manuscript but are superfluous
(?)
uncertain reading of a word
spaced letters
for passages or words written above the line by Pulszky as a correction
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MFA 2006 By travels or by books you are all Szilágyi 1991 familiar with Tuscany and the Bothmer, D. von, Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 31 (1968) northeastern part of the papal Szilágyi 1988 dominions, with the delightful country Johnston, Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts, 83 (1995) between the Po and the Tiber, the Moore, Mary B, Horses by Exekias, American Journal of Archeology 72 (1968) home of Cimabue, Duccio and Giotto, Villaneuva Puig, M.-Chr. , Deux iconographies dionysiaques paralléles: celle du Peintre d’Amasis et celle d’Exékias. Deux personnalités artistiques?, Céramique et peinture grecques. Modes d’emploi. Actes du colloque international, Ecole du Louvre, Paris, of Fra Angelico, Perugino and Francia Szilágyi 2003 of the Pisanis, Donatello, and Ghiberti Webster - Green - Seeberg, Monuments Illustrating New Comedy 1995, of Lucca della Robbia Verocchio and Michel Ange- Szilágyi 2000 lo; and again of the Carraccis, Szilágyi J. Gy. - Szentesi E. (Ed.), Antiquitas Hungarica: Tanulmányok a Fejérváry-Pulszky-gyűjtemény és a Liber Antiquitatis történetéről, Collegium Budapest Workshop Series No. 16, Budapest 2005, of Dominichino and Guido. It Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Hongrie, Budapest 2, is the most important country for Szilágyi-Castiglione1957 the history of Christian Italian art; _ Türr 1984 Whenever it degenerated, it was here Frel, J., Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 16 (1960) that painters and sculptors 16 were born who inspired it with Jacobsthal, P., Early Celtic Art, Oxford 1944, new life, and produced those works Brown, W.Ll., The Etruscan Lion, Oxford, 1960, of art, in which the manly vigour
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Weber, Th., Bronzekannen, Frankfurt-Bern, 1983, of freedom and the deepest religious Márton 1933 feeling find their adequate expres- 21 sion. It is the country where the commerce and manufacturies flourished in the middle ages, where the (MFA 2006) Bothmer, D. von, Amazons in Greek Art, Oxford, 1957 cities maintained their republican Brommer F., Vasenlisten zur gr. Heldensage, Marburg, 1956, form of government and their Brommer F., Vasenlisten zur gr. Heldensagen, Marburg, 1960 spirit of independence against Pope Szilágyi 1949 and Emperor from the XIIth down to the sixteenth Szabó 1972 Century, and where again the princes Bouzek jan, Eirene 9 (1971) who had at last put down liberty and popular J. Bouzek, Eirene 6 (1967) institutions, remained friends and patrons Bakay Kornél, Scytian Rattles in the Carpathian Basin and their eastern connections, Budapest, 1971, of art and science, and, though tyrants Lilian-Dirlmeier, Anhänger in Griechenland von der mykenischen bis zur spätgeometrischen Zeit, München, 1979 in the antique sense of the word, did not Barkóczi László, Antike Gläser, Roma, 1996, think, as their present successors in the same countries do, that Ritter 2005 the poet, the philosopher, the scholar belong Camporeale G., Studi Etruschi 40 (1972) to the dangerous classes of society, nor Szilágyi J. Gy., Etruscans 2 (1970-1972) that science and enlightment are inimical to Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Hongrie, Budapest 1, the order and incompatible with government. Thomas, E.B. in Rittratto ufficiale e ritratto privato, Att. Della II. Conf. Internazionale. Sul Ritratto Romano., Roma, 1984, Roma, 1988 In the epoch of classic anti- Sprincz E., Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 77 (1992) quity this country was inhabited
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Cservena, S. - Tilkia N., Arkheologija 1994by a mongrel race, by the Etrus- Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts = A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei - Tartalomjegyzék cans. The first inhabitants were BullMusHong_1.1947 Celtic Gauls, and Italian agriculturers. - and other branches of Pelasgi expelled from BullMusHong_2.1948 Greece, and Lydian Tyrrheni, emig- BullMusHong_3.1949 rating from Western Asia BullMusHong_4-5.1954 settled amongst them in antehistoric BullMusHong_6-7.1955 times and built cities; the intercourse with the Greek BullMusHong_8-9.1956 colonies of Lower Italy, at that time BullMusHong_10-11.1957 called Magna Grecia, and with the BullMusHong_12-13.1958 seafaring states of Greece proper, es- BullMusHong_14-15.1959 pecially with Corinth admixed helle-BullMusHong_16-17.1960 nic elements to the Etruscan people, BullMusHong_18-19.1961 and influenced their social state. BullMusHong_20-21.1962 It was a hard and enterprising popu- BullMusHong_22-23.1963 lation, full of energy and skill, ready BullMusHong_24-25.1964 to receive the improvements of fo-BullMusHong_26-27.1965 reign countries, though, in institutions BullMusHong_28-29.1966 as well as in language, entirely dif-BullMusHong_30.1967 ferent from the hellenic races.
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The different nations of Italy all alike threathened and partially conquered by Rome
had shortly afterwards formed a confederacy against the encroachment of the Romans, they put up their language instead of that of the great city and made an obstinate war against her. The war of Italy against Rome. It was one of the most critical epochs in Roman history, and her statesmen succeded in inducing the Etruscans to keep away from the confederacy; but scarcely were the Italians subdued when Sulla turned against the neutrals and allies and crushed their independence, and treated them all alike with the conquered confederates, - in the same way as in our days Croatia and the Serb population on the Theiss and Danube is treated entirely like that of Hungary. _
101 had given kings and senators 102 to the eternal city. The aristocra- 103 tic mould, the sacerdotal insti- 104 tutions, and the works of public 105 utility of the conquering people 106 were all of Etruscan origin, and 107 though the political nationality 108 of the Tuscans was 109 entirely destroyed by Rome thus 110 far that even their language be-
111 came soon obliterated they got after the onslaught of Sulla equal 112 rights with the Roman citizens;
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113 They were not treated as subjects 114 but as equals, and they never ceased 115 to influence and to modify the Ro- 116 man character.
117 The history of Etruria presents 118 no epoch of great national triumphs 119 and conquests, elating the spirit of 120 the people, and inspiring the poet 121 and the artist. The nation was 122 of mixed race, therefore 123 of greater receptibility for foreign influence than a ho-124 mogeneous people used to be, which feeds wars (?) repulsive feeling towards foreigners … … (4) 125 they lived in cities, 126 manufacturing industry was therefore 127 of greater importance among 128 them than agriculture. These three 129 features of Etruscan life deter- 130 mine the character of Etruscan 131 art. It lacks originality, and
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132 receives its forms from all the 133 surrounding populations; it does 134 not know idealism, therefore it 135 is not developed in its highest degree, 136 it remains ornamental, mechani- 137 cal, and applied to practical pur- 138 poses. Whilst the temple is the 139 principal feature of Greece, the 140 bridge, the canal, the sewer, and 141 the highway are those of Etruria, - 142 whilst Greece establishes the never 143 surpassed ideal of her Gods, Etru- 144 ria gives (5) the Portrait to the world.
145 The receptibility of the Tus- 146 cans is as easily recognized 147 in the manner in which 148 their artist worked, as in the sub- 149 jects which they treated. The old 150 Italian and originally Etruscan
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151 mythology is rarely to be found on the monu- 152 ments which from the cemeteries 153 of their cities have been brought 154 into our Museums and Collections; 155 we find there nearly all the 156 wellknown heroes of the Greek 157 fable; it is only their name which 158 has got the Etruscan form and 159 termination, but the myth re- 160 mained the same as in Greece, 161 and we can even see the diffe- 162 rent epochs of the importation 163 of the myths. On the scarabees 164 the Theban cyclus is predominant; 165 on the vases especially on the archaic vases, we see principally 166 attic art, they remain 167 connected with attic worship;
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168 the bronzes again, though the fea- 169 tures of the statues are of the pe- 170 culiar Etruscan character, and the 171 Greek beard is shaven, are closely 172 resembling the Archaic Greek school, 173 especially that of Aegina, 174 preceding the great period of Phi- 175 dias and Polycletus.
176 But besides this Greek influ- 177 ence we notice in Etruria a more ancient one, 178 that of Assyria, and of Egypt. 179 On several of the most Archaic 180 vases, - I have the plea- 181 sure of exhibiting two of these - we find 182 a style of art and representa- 183 tions, which are evidently in 184 affinity with Assyrian art. On 185 several embossed bronze reliefs
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186 we see likewise horses and gazelles 187 and tygers (sic) and lions of a type 188 which is imported from Asia 189 not from Greece. All such mo- 190 numents are found around Chiusi, the old Clusium. 191 On the vase before you, 192 for instance, found lately at 193 Zambra, and therefore undoubted- 194 ly Etruscan, we see a besieged 195 castle; the women, children, and 196 old men are leaving the dangerous 197 place, whilst, by the opposite gate, 198 the warriors are sallying forth from 199 the fortress, on foot and on horse- 200 back, and encounter the enemy 201 wearing a different dress. The 202 battle is not decided, but it
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203 seems that the sallying party 204 has an advantage. This repre- 205 sentation is in its spirit as well 206 as in its treatment 207 decidedly not Greek. 208 It is historical like the Assy- 209 rian slabs not mythological, 210 as all the Greek representations are, 211 and seems to record the gallant 212 resistance of one of the Etrus- 213 can cities, protected by cyclo- 214 pean walls against a foreign 215 invader. The row of animals 216 under this representation, and 217 the arabesque are such as 218 we find on so many fawn- 219 coloured vases, and their 220 type is again oriental, we find
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221 even the figure of the king strangling phantastical animals 222 with both hands, 223 copied from Assyrian cylinders 224 on Etruscan vases. - 225 I cannot discuss here the 226 question, whether those representations 227 and style of art has been brought 228 to Tuscany from Lydia by the emig- 229 rating Tyrrheni, or whether Babylonian 230 tapestry celebrated by antiquity, and 231 an article of extensive commerce has had such 232 influence on Etruscan art, suf- 233 fice to notice here the fact, estab-234 lished by monuments, that there 235 was really an Assyrian or oriental in-236 fluence on Etruria. 237 In the same way we see that 238 the early commercial intercourse 239 with Egypt did not remain without
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240 influence. Small idols of Phtha (6) 241 of 242 that blueish enamelled earthenware 243 so common in Egypt have been found in Etruria. They 244 are undoubtedly imported but their 245 golden setting is of Etruscan work- 246 manship, and an evidence of the com- 247 mercial intercourse with Egypt. 248 The form of the most ancient Etrus- 249 can gems, the scarabee is a still 250 greater proof of the influence of 251 Mizraim (7) on Etruria. It is a well- 252 known fact that the cylinder and 253 the cone-seal were the forms in 254 which the Assyrians, Babylonians, 255 and Persians engraved the gems 256 in order to use them as signets, - 257 yet the Etruscans adopted the Egyptian beetle, 258 which has no symbolic
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259 meaning in the old Italian reli- 260 gions, it has none in Greek mytho- 261 logy, but in Egypt it is the symbol 262 of God the Creator. The Egyptian saw 263 that life is extinct in the 264 sand-deserts, the only living creature 265 he met with, was the beetle rol- 266 ling in its kind legs a globe, which con- 267 tains the eggs of the animal, the 268 seed of a new life. This insect be- 269 came therefore the symbol of the 270 Creator who lived alone in the 271 chaos, forming the globe of the 272 world, and planting into it the 273 seeds of life. The Egyptian artist 274 often represented this sacred 275 symbol of Deity, and especially 276 when he was to carve a seal,
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277 that early sign of authenticity by 278 which the citizen and the king 279 ratify their engagements and pledges, - 280 he put it on the lower part of a 281 beetle, that is to say he placed it under the 282 protection and on the symbol of 283 Deity, in order to deter both from false- 284 hood and forgery. For the Etrus- 285 can the egyptian symbol had no such
286 sacred character, but seeing that 287 the highly accomplished Egytian en- 288 graves his seal always in such 289 a form, he adopted it likewise, without 290 knowing the meaning of it. 291 Later, he gave up the shape of the insect 292 yet he maintained the Egyptian 293 form of the Cartouche which sur- 294 rounded all the works of Tuscan 295 glyptic art for a long time, probab-
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296 ly up to the epoch of the complete 297 Roman conquest.
298 But the beetle-shaped engraved 299 gems of the Etruscans are yet more 300 interesting from another point of view. 301 We see on them for the first time the principle 302 of division of labour carried into 303 effect. The upper part 304 in relief was not made by the same 305 artist as the intaglio engraved on 306 its basis. The scarabs were evidently 307 separately manufactured, perhaps imported, because 308 their workmanship is certainly dif- 309 ferent from the workmanship of 310 the engraved seal. On this beetle, 311 for instance, the relief is of the 312 finest and most minute finish, 313 whilst the figure of the seal 314 though good in itself, is yet of in-
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315 ferior workmanship. And again 316 on this other scarab the intaglio belongs 317 to the masterpieces of art, whilst 318 the insect is negligently carved in 319 an entirely mechanical style.
320 Assyria and Egypt were count- 321 ries far distant from Italy; their 322 influence, therefore, could not be 323 either prevalent or lasting. But 324 Greece and the Greek colonies 325 were in the next neighbourhood 326 of Etruria, and the art of Hellas 327 was soon transplanted to Upper- 328 Italy. According to tradition, Da- 329 maratus the potter of Corinth 330 came as a political refugee to Etru- 331 ria and introduced the fabrication 332 of vases, he became the Wedgewood 333 of that country. I cannot refrain here
Page 19 is missing
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334 Etruria always remained the 335 great manufacturing country 336 for pottery and fictile vases 337 Etruscan artists worked more 338 in clay than in marble; they 339 moulded and baked in this way 340 large statues of high merit, and 341 many sepulchral urns in their 342 own rude Italian style; they 343 manufactured with Greek spirit 344 those beautiful vases which 345 adorn our Museums and 346 also red earthenware, with la- 347 tin inscriptions and reliefs, which 348 is found especially around Arezzo 349 and we see later copied whereever 350 the legions of imperial Rome 351 stood in garrison. All of them
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352 were made for use not only for 353 ornament. They were the wit- 354 nesses of the feasts and enter- 355 tainments of the Etruscans, 356 before they were deposited with 357 the corpse or the ashes of the 358 deceased into the tomb. _ The 359 repast is the symbol of life for 360 the Etruscan, he enjoys it as long 361 as it lasts, and the wreath which 362 encircles his hair at the feast 363 is the same which is put on his 364 forehead when he is dead. The 365 implements of the feast, the Vases 366 and cups follow him to the tomb, 367 which is adorned by representa- 368 tions of dances and merry 369 repasts. (8)
The theory has often been ably defended that all those vases were manufactured in Greece and imported to Etruria because they have Greek inscriptions. The reason would show only that they were worked by Greek artists living in Etruria. However … a collector of vases in this
country, will easily upset that theory by the sad experience, that in spite of good packing and railway communication many vases arrive broken in this country. In Antiquity they were not more strong (?) than now._
370 The Etruscans were not less
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371 celebrated for their castings in me- 372 tal than for their pottery, 373 as they embellished all the tools 374 and implements of every day's life 375 by art. Though they had no such 376 artists as Polycletos and Myron 377 and Praxiteles and Lysippus, 378 their candelabre and their 379 small figures which adorned 380 the top of them, the cups and the handles 381 of their vases, or the stands of 382 their mirrors, were prized and 383 bought as eagerly all over Italy 384 and Greece, as the French bronzes 385 are now in England and on the 386 Continent. 387 Works of art and copies of celebrated compositions 388 came by Etruscan manufacturing skill within the reach of private 389 families of moderate fortune.
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390 Tuscan embossed gold and silver 391 cups and vases, bronze orna- 392 ments of thrones, triumphal 393 ears (?) and arms were exported 394 even to Athens, according to the 395 old authors; and the remains of 396 Etruscan art which were found 397 especially in the neighbourhood 398 of Perugia give as such high an 399 idea of Etruscan workmanship 400 that we are not at all astonished 401 at the demand for Tuscan works 402 in Greece. In the Fejérváry Mu- 403 seum, for instance, there is a gold 404 necklace which would grace the 405 neck of any of the ladies here pre- 406 sent, so elegant is its design, so deli-407 cate and elaborate its technic.
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408 This figure here, a dancer eleva- 409 ting a lily in his right hand, 410 it is a candlestick as the taper was 411 fastened on the lily; those warriors 412 carrying their wounded friend from 413 the battle-field, they form a handle 414 for a box; these wrestlers are 415 also a boxhandle, and this juggler 416 inflecting his body in the most 417 extraordinary way is a handle 418 of a small vase. The large can- 419 delabres are often of the shape 420 of a stem; doves or squirrels 421 sit on the top, a cat is lur- 422 king below, whilst the lamps sus- 423 pended from the branches 424 shed their light on the handsome 425 composition. _ Yet graceful as
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426 those bronzes are, whoever is 427 accustomed to the purity and 428 charms of Greek forms, must 429 confess that Etruscan art never 430 attained the highest degree of 431 development, it remained al- 432 ways mechanical, and shows 433 that the vigorous, manly, and 434 severe spirit of the Etruscan 435 nation never was excited to 436 higher artistical exertions, and 437 seemed utterly devoid of the crea- 438 tive imagination of the Greeks. 439 It skillfully took up the forms 440 of art prevailing with the na- 441 tions with which Etruria was 442 in contact, but only for practi-
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443 cal and never for exclusively 444 artistical purposes. In technical 445 skill the Tuscans excelled, but 446 their taste was not much refined. 447 The monstrous mythical combina- 448 tions of Medusa and Minotaure,449 and the Centaurs and Satyrs, 450 and Pans, which by the Greeks 451 were always figured in an em- 452 bellished way, are in Etruria re- 453 presented in the most rude form 454 and unartistical manner. The 455 ideal of the beautiful Medusa 456 who petrifies the looker on by the 457 ghastly expression of melancholy 458 sorrow, never penetrated to the 459 banks of the Arno, the Gorgon remained 460 there a hideous monster; Pan
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461 is often figured with the legs of 462 a bull, and the Satyrs have horse- 463 tails. Nay, it seems even that 464 the Tuscans had a tendency for 465 carricature, some of their small 466 statues being so much distorted, 467 that another explication is scarce- 468 ly admissible for those ugly shapes, 469 which seem not to imitate the 470 real form but the shade of the 471 man. The strongly marked 472 and rather coarse type of the 473 Etruscan face, and the dry style 474 of workmanship which always 475 characterizes Etruscan art, makes 476 Tuscan works less attractive than 477 the Greek ones; certainly they 478 are skillful, but Helenic art
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479 is beautiful.
480 Still in works of public uti- 481 lity the Etruscans are far supe- 482 rior to the Greeks. They had 483 that spirit of boldness and en- 484 terprize, says Ottfried Müller, 485 the best author on the Etruscans, 486 which is developed by a theocra- 487 tic and aristocratic con- 488 stitution. They were the first 489 who surrounded their cities with 490 mighty walls. A tyrant or an 491 oligarchy fortifies the most ele- 492 vated part of the city which 493 keeps the citizens 494 around in subjection; this is the origin of 495 the Acropolis. But in Etru- 496 ria all the town population was
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497 to be protected just as we see it 498 later again in the middle ages.499 It was a natural consequence of 500 their position as a foreign popu- 501 lation, which built cities amongst 502 the agricultural aborigines who 503 remained hostile to them. But 504 the Etruscans as soon as they 505 had cared for their defence, exer- 506 ted their energies to improve- 507 ments. They built canals for 508 irrigation, and for carrying 509 away the surplus water of the 510 inundations at the mouth of 511 the Po and of the Arno; they 512 bored tunnels of the length 513 of several miles through vulca- 514 nic rocks, to drain the inland
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515 lakes, and Tarquinian kings 516 built the admirable sewers of 517 Rome, and especially the Cloaca 518 maxima which drained the 519 forum and carried away the 520 sewerage of the city. It is 521 one of the most stupendous works 522 of antiquity, a lasting monu- 523 ment of the practical tendency 524 the bold enterprize and the 525 architectural skill of the 526 Etruscans; it has resisted to 527 the destroying influences of time, 528 to earthquakes and the forces 529 of vegetation of 25 centuries, and 530 shows us clearly that the Etrus- 531 cans were acquainted with the 532 arch long before the Greeks.
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533 The arch which became the basis 534 of the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, 535 and Gothic architecture, has un- 536 doubtedly been introduced in Europe 537 by the Etruscans, and remains a 538 lasting boon received by us through this 539 interesting people. The art of 540 making arches was not inven- 541 ted by the Etruscans who built 542 principally with stone; the arch 543 must have originated with a 544 population which made exten- 545 sive use of bricks, and had 546 no wood for roofing large 547 buildings. We find vaults 548 in Egypt in the time of the XXVI. dynasty 549 which is contemporaneous with 550 Royal Rome. But Sir Gardiner 551 Wilkinson assures us that he
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552 had seen arches belonging to 553 the XIXth Dynasty. Yet in Egypt 554 vaulting was only exceptional. 555 In Assyria Mr. Place and 556 Mr. Layard have discovered brick- 557 arches in Khorsabad, and on the 558 slabs we see arched gateways 559 figured with regular keystones. 560 But both in Egypt and As- 561 syria stone-arches were un- 562 common, and no extensive use 563 was made of the great inven- 564 tion. Greece did scarcely know 565 it. According to Seneca it was 566 Democritus who invented the 567 arch, a contemporary of Phi- 568 dias and Pericles. The 569 Roman philosopher who had 570 before his eyes the immense
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571 arch of the Cloaca Maxima, 572 built many centuries before the 573 times of Democritus, follows here 574 in a thoughtless way the report of some Greek author, 575 who, of course, wished to attri- 576 bute all the great 577 inventions to the Greeks, whilst Democritus 578 only introduced the arch from 579 Italy to Greece.
580 (9) It is difficult to overrate the 581 immense bearing of the application 582 of the arch to purposes of public 583 utility, as done by the Etruscans. 584 The building of solid and lasting bridges 585 became possible only by the principle of the arch, the bridges 586 again were followed by high roads 587 and aqueducts, all little known in 588 Greece, but built extensively in 589 Tuscany. -
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590 Besides this important feature of 591 Architecture we owe to the Tuscans another 592 very valuable form of art, that is to say 593 the Portrait.
594 The wish of possessing the likeness of those 595 whom we love is so natural that it is difficult 596 for us to believe that nations of great artistic 597 development, as for instance the Egyptians the 598 Assyrians, the Persians, and even the Greeks up 599 to a certain epoch did not know the portrait. 600 Yet if we observe 601 children we will notice that seeing a human figure, they 602 give a name to it, they call it Papa 603 or Mama, for them it is sufficient 604 to aid their memory, it is the sign 605 of the individual, with which they are 606 fully contented. The early nations of the 607 world remained always such children. 608 They did not aim at that resemblance 609 which, with us, is the first requirement 610 with a portrait, they were satisfied to be reminded that the representation meant to be that of an individual.
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611 The portrait is the artistical reproduction 612 of a living original. We require 613 that it should give us not only 614 the characteristic distinctive features of 615 the individual, in the general conception as 616 well as in the details, but likewise the 617 result of the habitual muscular action of the face, 618 that is to say the 619 expression of the soul, which 620 shows the character of the Person. For 621 instance the forehead of a passionate, 622 the nose of the haughty, the mouth 623 and chin of the sensual man get by habit a peculiar 624 formation and bear the signs of the often recurring 625 emotions even in a dispassionate 626 state. The perfect portrait has therefore 627 always two aims to attain, individuality 628 and character. Many likenesses 629 resemble their original in all the details and yet there is 630 something strange with them, they 631 give the individuality without the character
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632 others though deficient in the details yet 633 immediately recognized, the artist has saved 634 the expression, but lost 635 sight of the distinctive individual features. (10)
Daguerreotypes which never can become works of art give us a slavish representation of the individual features, but not of the character, because we are conscious of it that our features are to be portrayed in that moment and involuntarily we change their habitual expression.
636 Perfect portaits were nearly entirely 637 unknown to the old world, it is only the Christian 638 epoch, which has produced them, because the aim of 639 Christian art was from its first origin always 640 spiritual expression, not the charm of forms, 641 whilst it was beauty, what (sic) the old 642 world wished to attain.
643 The Romans in the time of Trajan 644 had good portraits, especially as 645 regards the reproduction of the features 646 in their principal steady forms, and in 647 this respect the Etruscans were the 648 masters of the Romans.
649 The Greeks tried to make portraits in the macedonian (?) period 650 they reproduced some individual features 651 of the living original, however their principal aim 652 was not that of a real resemblance, but the idealizing of the representation.
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653 They refrained themselves to the imitation 654 of some accidental peculiarities for instance 655 of the hair, or the beard, or of one peculiar 656 feature in the face, they never had the 657 intention to portray the character of 658 the person.
659 Art and poetry pursue always the same 660 way; with Shakespeare every person on 661 the stage has a strongly marked indivi- 662 duality and differ form all the other persons 663 of the play, with Aeschylus or Sophocles 664 they have no individuality whatever, 665 they are representations of a genus 666 or a species. (11)
Yet the Greeks knew how to portray the emotions of the soul, especially the second Athenian school which under Scopas and Praxiteles gave us the most admirable representations of the different shades of passion for instance in the celebrated group of Niobe or in the reliefs of the Mausoleum in the same way as Sophocles and Euripides give us the most tragic situations in their plays.
667 The so called portraits of the Egyptians 668 and Assyrians scarcely deserve this name, though 669 we see on the head of Thutmosis in the 670 British Museum, and on some of the fragments 671 of Khorsabad traces of individuality, 672 the general type prevails so far that it
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673 is nearly impossible to distinguish the represen- 674 tations of one king from the other, it therefore 675 could happen, and really happened, that 676 a king, who required a portrait of 677 himself, was satisfied with having 678 his name and 679 title engraved upon the statue of 680 one of his predecessors after having erased 681 the former name from the sculpture. This custom 682 which is not very rare 683 shows clearly, that the Egyptians 684 were not very particular about 685 real resemblance, Rossellini gives 24 686 sheets of portraits in his great 687 work on Egypt, but he must confess him- 688 self, that the Ptolemies, whose Relief portraits we can compare with their 689 features on their Greek coins, are 690 (12) 691 entirely different at Dendera and at Alexandria where their Greek coins were struck.
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692 But even in Greece we scarcely find any 693 work of art prior to the time of Alexander 694 the great, which we could call a portrait. 695 Of course there are in the museums busts of Socrates and Pericles and Aspasia, of Herodotus 696 and even of Miltiades, of Aesopus, of Homer, with 697 features, which are just those, as 698 are likely to have been the features of … 699 and statesmen and heroes and poets. But 700 even the strongest advocates of the Greek origin of the 701 portrait openly avow that the workmanship 702 of those busts belongs to a much 703 later period, their bulk is of the 704 epoch of Hadrian; and they have no pretension of being portraits in the modern sense of the word. - Pliny gives us 705 the key to this fact. In the 34th book 706 of his Natural History he says: "I cannot 707 omit likewise a new invention: that in 708 the libraries the busts of those 709 whose immortal soul speaks in those 710 places are placed not only made of gold and 711 silver and bronze but even those
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712 are represented of whose features we have 713 no tradition, they raise a desire 714 of the unknown face, as happened with 715 Homer (?). And I think, he added that there is no 716 greater happiness, than, that everybody 717 should be desirous to know, how one looked. In Rome that 718 was the invention of Asinius Pollio who 719 was the first to open a library and to 720 make the … of men public property. 721 Whether the kings of Alexandria and 722 Pergamon, who rivalled one another in their libraries 723 did the same, I could not say exactly". 724 Fancy portraits therefore, that is to say 725 individual representations showing 726 how a certain author or hero must 727 have looked, or rather how the sculptor 728 imagined him to have looked, were in the time of 729 Pliny not rare at all. The most celebrated amongst 730 them is surely that of the blind 731 Homer, one of the first efforts of 732 Greek art.
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733 But we are familiar with those proceedings 734 by Christian art, we see daily the represen- 735 tation of our Saviour and of the Apostles 736 made in an individual way, and the artist 737 is anxious, sometimes with great success, 738 to express the features of their character 739 as we know it from the Gospels 740 and tradition.
741 Republicanism and Democracy were the great 742 obstacles of the development of portrait. Jealousy is the aim 743 of Democracy which always aims at equality, - 744 and as it was (?) impossible for the masses to 745 rise at once to the level of the greatest and 746 most illustrious of their fellow citizens, they 747 distrust those 748 who tower above them. It is only the 749 greatest modesty, I could say the attestation
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750 of humbleness which conciliates a demo- 751 cratic people with prominent greatness. The American statesmen are aware of it, and their speeches used to overflow with a kind of selfhumiliation entirely unknown in English oratory. (13) In republican Greece 752 no importance was attached to a great 753 parentage, or to an illustrious pedigree, - the ancestors 754 were not honoured by, nor their memory recorded 755 in the family. And then, all the monuments 756 were public, dedicated to the Gods, it would 757 therefore have been a sacrilege to introduce 758 living men and portraits into such a composition. 759 We know that Phidias was indicted for760 having tried to give some resemblance 761 of Pericles and of himself to some figures on the relief of 762 the shild of Minerva. The only statues 763 created in honour of citizens, were those of the 764 victors in the Olympian games, at Elis - games 765 which had witnessed their victories, - they were all 766 politically insignificant men, and their monuments were 767 not portraits at all, they represented 768 the victory, the period, and honoured 769 the city of the victor more than himself.
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770 It was at the time of the increase of 771 the Macedonian power that the first 772 likenesses were drawn and statues created to citizens. 773 the Athenians decreed one to Coron and Demosthenes reproaches them for that invention. The portrait was a monarchical feature at this time. 774 Pliny gives the most 775 positive evidence in this respect, he says 776 The first who moulded a plaster cast of 777 a man and finished and improved it 778 in the wax poured into the plaster 779 was Lysistratus of Sicyon the brother 780 of Lysippus. He began to express the 781 likeness, before him the sculptors aimed 782 to make the statues the more beautiful. 783 We see it here openly acknowledged 784 that before Lysistratus, 785 who lived in the time of Alexander 786 the tendency of Greek art was 787 idealizing, it was Lysistratus who 788 began to mould likeness in Greece.
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789 The first attempts were of course imperfect, 790 the portraits of Alexander are 791 scarcely to be distinguished from the 792 ideal head of Heracles, but at the 793 country of Egypt with the Ptolemies, 794 of Pergamon with the Philetaeri and 795 Attali, of Syria with the Seleucide the 796 portrait was far better developed than 797 in Greece proper. - The hereditary Monarch wished to have his coin marked and distinguished by his face, it was a kind of Apotheose. Formerly in order to prevent forgery, the coins were marked with the … of …. the tyrants of earlier times, even the Gelons and … and Dionysii of Syracusa had no portraits on their coins, those which we possess with their names as also that of … Philistis were struck at a much later period under … the II after the time of …, they are rather medals. To put the head of a king on the coin, was to elevate him to the rank of God. (14)
798 But Etruria and afterwards Rome 799 were not democracies they were …: 800 An illustrious pedigree was of high 801 value, the merits of the ancestors 802 ennobled the descendants, their likeness 803 was therefore of great importance. 804 The hall of the corpse was adorned with them, they followed the dead body up to funeral pile 805 carried in pomp through 806 the streets. The Tuscans, as we have 807 already noticed it, had no idealizing 808 tendencies whatever, they were a practical 809 and manufacturing people, with them therefore, the art of Lysistratus, to mould 810 the features of man, was known from an early period.
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811 The reclining figures on the terra- 812 cotta funeral urns, are never ideals they 813 are portraits, though rich in execution. 814 The Romans, an unartistical people without lively imagination 815 got their funeral rites from the Etruscans 816 and knew the Portrait long before the 817 Greeks. But Greek culture was introduced 818 into Rome after the conquest of Greece 819 and especially after the capture of Corinth.
820 "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artis821 intulit agresti Latio." says Horace, 822 Greek art was more pleasing and elegant 823 than the Etruscan, the charm of forms 824 got the upper hand over the characteristic 825 representation of individuality; in 826 the time of Augustus therefore 827 we find in Rome again the 828 old Greek idealizing 829 style of art applied even to Portraits. 830 The likenesses of Augustus and Livia are 831 always ennobled, that is to say divested of their individuality.
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832 Pliny knows it and complains of it he 833 says "Portraits were made formerly 834 entirely like. But this has become obsolete. - 835 now they are made of bronze and of 836 silver scarcely to be distinguished 837 from one another, it happens even that the 838 heads of the statues are exchanged, as has been 839 adverted to in satyrical poetry. It was not so 840 in the hall of 841 our forefathers, there they were exhibited not 842 to show the workmanship of foreign 843 artists, or the bronze, or the earth, 844 but it were the likenesses of the features 845 in wax which stood on the chests, and 846 which accompanied the great funerals 847 where the deceased had around him all 848 the people which (sic) ever had belonged to the family. - 849 It is scarcely possible to illustrate 850 better the introduction of the 851 idealizing foreign, - that is to say 852 Greek style, - by which the etruscan individual portrait was superseded, this by the words of Pliny.
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853 But the feeling of disgust which the 854 Roman admiral expressed, - as he did not 855 much understand art, and had little 856 taste for Greek artists, the works of whom 857 were for him only …ies, - seems to 858 have at length prevailed with the 859 Romans. With Nero and his successors 860 a reaction takes place, the 861 old Etruscan custom revives 862 once more and gives at length rise to the 863 excellent style of Trajan, which has one 864 principal aim, the expression of indivi- 865 duality. The Roman portrait attained 866 under him the highest development 867 yet it is inferior to the Christian 868 portrait of the XVI and XVIIth century, 869 which is really the mirror of the souls. - 870 Under Hadrian the Greek ideal 871 became again the fashion of the day,
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872 and soon after him Roman art, 873 Roman institutions, Roman nationality, 874 all enervated by the long prosperity and internal peace 875 of nearly four scores of years 876 declined under the stupidity, cruelty and 877 extravagance of a few emperors and in the turmoil 878 of civil disturbances and foreign irruptions 879 which followed their reign -
880 Ladies and Gentlemen I endeavoured 881 to give you an outline 882 not so much of the history than 883 of the significance and influence of 884 Etruscan art, which though eclipsed 885 by the more elegant forms of Greece 886 cannot fail to attract our interest. 887 The Etruscans were an industrious manufacturing 888 commercial people, for … centuries but their memory would 889 have been nearly entirely obliterated, had they not cultivated arts. 890 (15)
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891 From the authors we would know only their continual 892 defeats, we would be informed that 893 the most valuable institutions of Rome 894 were said to be of Etruscan origin, 895 but without their terracottas, their vases, their bronzes, 896 their paintings they would be as little 897 known to us as the Philistians 898 or the Tyrians and all the Phoenician 899 tribes are, all more important and wealthier than 900 the Tuscans, and yet appear to us only in the … 901 … of uncertainty, because art 902 did not ennoble their life. Literature 903 and art alone preserve the memory 904 of nations in the book of history.
(MFA 2006) The part "commerce and manufacturies…" is an insertion on the margin by Pulszky's hand
(Szilágyi 1991) The part "which feeds…" is an insertion on the margin by Pulszky.
(Szilágyi 1988) Two or three illegible words are inserted by Pulszky above the line.
(Szilágyi 2003) From this line on, the handwriting is that of Pulszky's.
(Szilágyi 2000) The following passage - with no line numbers - was inserted on the right margin by Pulszky.
(Türr 1984) The words in that line are all deleted by Pulszky.
Last modified: 2012-01-25 00:16:06
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