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Dating Troubles: an Investigation into the Painted Decoration within the Tomb of the Blue Demons
Metzgar, Melissa
Metzgar, Melissa
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Abstract
The Tomb of the Blue Demons is an Etruscan burial chamber from Tarquinia shrouded in a damaged archaeological record, traditionally dated to the mid-fifth century BC. With extraordinary frescoes of a hunt, a procession, a banquet, and the Underworld, the tomb has captivated archaeologists for its unusual blue beasts—creatures who do not arise in Etruscan visual trends until one hundred years after the tomb’s ascribed date. Scholars adhering to the traditional date of the tomb have explained these painted demons as a newfound Etruscan concern for the afterlife. However, similar funerary characters appear on sixth-century terracotta plaques from nearby Cerveteri. In these examples, however, these human characters have yet to transform into the monstrous creatures we see in the Tomb of the Blue Demons. Additionally, identical grotesque figures decorate many other Etruscan materials (ranging from pottery and mirrors to cinerary urns and sarcophagi), all dating from the mid-fourth to late third centuries BC.
The demons in the Tomb of The Blue Demons, then, not only demonstrate a visual expansion of pre-existing afterlife thoughts in Etruria, but also realign the frescos’ date with the mid-fourth century BC. A closer look at these demons alongside the tomb’s other paintings reveals additional discrepancies in their drafting techniques and pigments. Here, painters unmistakably used a red sketch before painting and lightly outlining the demons—a technical feature noticeably absent from the other three walls. These iconographic and painterly differences throughout the Underworld more closely align the fresco with later artistic trends in Etruria. Considering all of this evidence together, it thus appears as if the Underworld scene in the Tomb of the Blue Demons was likely painted at a second historical moment, much after the tomb was originally adorned with the more traditional painted scenes. This allows a dating of the Underworld scene to the mid-fourth century BC, underscoring an intricate level of artistic adaptation and innovation previously unseen in funerary decoration.
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Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2021.
Date
2021
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Keywords
Etruscan Architecture, Funeral rites and ceremonies, Tombs, Decoration
Citation
Metzgar, Melissa. "Dating Troubles: an Investigation into the Painted Decoration within the Tomb of the Blue Demons". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2021.