Giacobbe Giusti, Tombe de la Chasse et de la Pêche
Giacobbe Giusti, Tombe de la Chasse et de la Pêche
Les deux chambres de la tombe de la Chasse et de la Pêche
La tombe de la Chasse et de la Pêche (Tomba Caccia e Pesca en italien) est l’une des tombes étrusques peintes1 datée du dernier quart du vie siècle av. J.-C., située dans la Nécropole de Monterozzi, proche de la ville de Tarquinia.
Histoire
La tombe a été découverte en 1873 et est datée du dernier quart du vie siècle av. J.-C..
Description
Giacobbe Giusti, Tombe de la Chasse et de la Pêche
La tombe est composée de deux chambres funéraires, entièrement peintes. Cette tombe fait partie de celles qui sont les plus célèbres et étudiées.
Par la nature des sujets exprimant exclusivement une expression culturelle autochtone, elle fait aussi partie des plus originales. Un jeu croisé entre les parois et les frontons des deux chambres se crée. Le banquet de la deuxième chambre répond à l’ivresse de la première, tout comme la chasse de la première répond au paysage de paradis de la seconde. Ces images restent toutefois ambiguës et polysémiques.
Première chambre
Sur la paroi du fond, on peut voir des fresquesreprésentant des scènes de danse d’ivresse et de jeux de plein air, liés au banquet et au monde de Dionysos. Le retour de la chasse est représenté sur le fronton. L’espace est scandé par des arbustes auxquels sont suspendues des bandelettes et sans doute également un miroir.
On retrouve une tripartition de l’espace (base, scène principale, partie supérieure), marqué par de grandes bandes de couleurs.
Deuxième chambre
Dans la seconde chambre, on a un grand décor de paysage marin, avec la mer et ses dauphines. Sur les vagues vogue une petite barque de pêcheurs, un jeune homme nu plonge d’un rocher (représenté conventionnellement de façon torsadée) et un chasseur armé d’une fronde tente d’abattre les oiseaux. C’est l’une des plus anciennes et des plus complexes peinture de paysage. L’image du plongeur peut-être une image métaphorique très puissante du plongeon dans l’au-delà.
Une scène de banquet est dessinée sur le fronton de la même paroi. Un couple, probablement de défunts, banquète, avec des serviteurs et peut-être les enfants. La scène de banquet prend place au-dessus d’un paysage idyllique et paradisiaque.
Giacobbe Giusti, Tombe de la Chasse et de la Pêche
Detail of the fresco on the back wall of the main chamber
The Tomb of Hunting and Fishing (Italian: Tomba della Caccia e Pesca), formerly known as the Tomb of the Hunter (Tomba del Cacciatore),[1] is an Etruscan tomb in the Necropolis of Monterozzi near Tarquinia, Italy. It was discovered in 1873[2] and has been dated variously to about 530–520 BC,[3] 520 BC,[4] 510 BC[5] or 510–500 BC.[2] Stephan Steingräber calls it « unquestionably one of the most beautiful and original of the Tarquinian tombs from the Late Archaic period. »[5] R. Ross Holloway emphasizes the reduction of humans to small figures in a large natural environment. There were no precedents for this in Ancient Greek art or in the Etruscan art it influenced. It was a major development in the history of ancient painting.[2]
Description
The entrance to the tomb leads to the antechamber, which has a doorway to the main chamber opposite the entrance. The wall frescoes of the antechamber show figures which are almost naked, apparently partaking in a Dionysian ritual dance. They are in a grove which is decorated with ribbons, wreaths, mirrors and cistae. Reclining satyrs with rhytoi appear in the gable of the entry wall. They too are an example of the influence of the cult of Dionysus on the Etruscan religion and cult of the dead. The gable of the back wall shows a hunting scene. Hunters and dogs return with quarry in a near-tropical landscape with lively vegetation.[5]
In the gable of the back wall of the main chamber is a fresco of a banquet scene. A well-dressed man and woman recline on couches. They are surrounded by two naked cupbearers, an aulos player, drinking vessels, wreaths and birds. There are also two young women who weave wreaths. The frescoes for which the tomb is known best are located below the gables of the main chamber. They show seascapes with cliffs, boats with apotropaic eyes, fishermen with harpoons and nets, hunters with slings, water birds and leaping dolphins. The back wall has a niche for a cremation burial.[5]
The scene of the diver recurs approximately thirty years later in the Tomb of the Divernear the ancient Greek city Poseidonia.[5] It is now thought that the frescoes from that tomb probably emulated older Etruscan designs. This countered the now discredited opinion of art historians who thought that the Etruscans only copied and never influenced Greek art.[3]
Interpretation
According to Steingräber hunting and banqueting were typical activities for the Etruscan aristocracy. The scenes showing those activities would have served as status symbols for those interred in the tomb. The man and woman in the banquet scene were apparently the husband and wife buried in the tomb. Possibly the two young women were their daughters. The sea scenes not only represent the natural environment of Tarquinia’s shores, but also the long journey over the sea to the afterlife. The diver should also be understood in that sense, as a leap from this world to the underworld.[5] For Janson, the large hunter with a slingshot on the back wall of the main chamber might be a demon of death. The associations with Dionysus carry a funerary context as well. He was not only the god of wine, but also the god of vegetation, connecting him with death and resurrection.[4]
While the frescoes of the tomb might seem to be unique for their treatment of scale, Holloway argues they are in fact a logical development from earlier tomb painting. The frescoes of the bulls above the two doorways in Tomb of the Bulls show bulls and humans of a similar small scale. If those frescoes were not restricted by the limited space they occupied, the effect could have been similar to the frescoes in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing.[2]
Illusionistic tomb decoration
The tomb’s imagery is interpreted more literally by Holloway. Like several other contemporary painted tombs in the Necropolis of Monterozzi, the frescoes in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing followed the convention of illusionistic tomb painting. This style of decoration was only practiced in Tarquinia and came in use around 525 BC.[2]
The tomb paintings conforming to this style consisted of two elements. First, they depicted architectural details of an open pavilion, which would have been erected near the tomb to host the funeral banquet. Second, they depicted the funeral celebrations of the Etruscans. The artists aimed to recreate the view of the celebrations from the pavilion. This would allow the shades of the deceased to witness and participate in these ceremonies performed in their honor.[2]
In the case of the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing, Holloway thinks the frescoes of the seascapes should be interpreted as the distant view from the pavilion. He notes that the Tyrrhenian Sea is visible to the west from the elevated terrain of the Necropolis of Monterozzi. This is similar to how the banqueters look down towards the seascapes from the gable of the main chamber’s back wall. This is combined with the scenes in the antechamber, which show a funeral dance.[2]
This motif of the panoramic distant vista from the pavilion recurs later in the Tomb of the Ship, but was then abandoned. The « Tarquinian school » of illusionistic tomb painting ultimately fell out of use after the fifth century BC as well. It would take more than four hundred years for illusionistic tomb painting to be reborn in Roman art.[2]
References
- Jump up^ « Corneto« , Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., 1878.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Holloway, R. Ross (1965). « Conventions of Etruscan Painting in the Tomb of Hunting and Fishing at Tarquinii ». American Journal of Archaeology. 69 (4): 341–347. JSTOR 502183.
- ^ Jump up to:a b S. Kleiner, Fred (2011). Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History. 1. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4390-8578-3.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Janson, Horst Woldemar; Janson, Anthony F. (2004). History of Art: The Western Tradition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. pp. 169–170. ISBN 978-0-13-182895-7.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Steingräber, Stephan (2006). Abundance of Life: Etruscan Wall Painting. Los Angeles, California: Getty Publications. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-0-89236-865-5.
Weblinks
Die Fischerszene aus dem Grab
Die etruskische Tomba della Caccia e Pesca („Grab der Jagd und Fischerei“) in der Monterozzi-Nekropole bei Tarquinia in Italien wurde 1873 entdeckt. Das Grab ist vor allem wegen seiner Wandmalereien bekannt. Es datiert in das letzte Viertel des sechsten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. Die Szenen im Grab sind nicht sehr gut erhalten, überraschen aber durch ihre Lebendigkeit. Das Grab ist heute eine beliebte Touristenattraktion in Tarquinia.
Das Grab besteht aus zwei Kammern. Die erste Kammer hat an der Decke einen roten Mittelbalken gemalt. Auf den Wänden finden sich vor allem Bäume wiedergegeben, zwischen denen sich Tänzer befinden.[1] Die zweite, dahinterliegende Kammer war die Grabkammer, in der die Toten niedergelegt wurden. Sie ist mit einer Meereslandschaft ausgemalt. Auf der Rückwand befindet sich die Szene, die dem Grab den Namen gab. Hier ist ein Fischerboot im Meer dargestellt. Auf einer anderen Wand sieht man einen Felsen, von dem ein nackter Schwimmer mit dem Kopf nach unten ins Wasser springt. Am Ufer vor dem Fischerboot, auf der rechten Seite, sieht man einen Mann mit einer Steinschleuder, der auf Vogeljagd ist. Auf allen Wänden sieht man Gruppen von Vögeln. Im Wasser schwimmt ein Delphin. Über der Meeresszene findet sich eine Bankettszene im Giebel unter der Kammerdecke. Zentrum ist ein liegendes Ehepaar. Daneben finden sich nackte Diener und Musikanten.
Einzelnachweise
Literatur
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Mario Moretti, Leonard von Matt: Etruskische Malerei in Tarquinia. Köln 1974, ISBN 3-7701-0541-9, S. 92, Abb. 58–62.
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Stephan Steingräber: Etrurien. Städte, Heiligtümer, Nekropolen. Hirmer, München 1981, ISBN 3-7774-3330-6, S. 388.unting and Fishing (engl.)
Giacobbe Giusti 
