Etruscan Art

Chapter 2 The Villanovan Style and Geometric Art

I N D E X
THE VILLANOVAN AS A CERAMIC STYLE [first paragraph only]


Not Included here:
THE VILLANOVAN AS A GEOMETRIC STYLE
Greek Influence: Painted Vases
Patterns of Development
Metallic Arts
Sociological and Psychological Aspects of Italian Geometric Art

The Sociological Split
The Psychology of Italian Geometric Design
Man and Beast

T E X T
The Villanovan as a Ceramic Style
We gain our first insight into the irregularity--which is to say the individuality--of Etruscan art by making ourselves acquainted with the art now ca led Villanovan, for this was the Geometric style of early Italy and at the same time the Etruscan art of the eighth century. By this definition an important parallelism to the Greek development becomes clear at once. In Italy, as in Greece, Classical art started with a Geometric period. In the following we shall apply to the ancient art of Italy the same chief divisions of period which have become customary for the Greek art. The significant sequence of a Geometric, Archaic, and Classical style occurred in both countries, because it formed a unified process of evolution. On the other hand it is equally necessary to point out that the early history of Italy led to a Geometric style which differed very much from its Greek counterpart, by origin as well as by the effect it had on the subsequent development of art.

Common to both styles was their basic condition: both were first intended for the decoration of clay vases. By original purpose they must be termed ceramic styles. The name Geometric was applied to Greek vases of this type in order to describe their distinctive decoration, which in most examples consists of a system of superimposed zones filled with abstract, hence 'Geometric', patterns . . . . p. 23]