M. Denon mentions having seen some Egyptian paint ings, which he describes as far from inelegant, consisting, in one apartment, of a ceiling ornamented with figures painted of a yellow colour, on an azure ground ; represent ed in different attitudes, and accompanied with a variety of arms, musical instruments, and pieces of furniture. In another apartment, every thing *was agricultural—paint ings of the plough, and various other implements of hus bandry, not unlike those presently in use—a man sowing grain on the brink of a canal—fields of rice and harvest ing scenes. Another chamber was decorated with a per son clothed in white, playing on a harp of eleven strings— several figures were represented without heads, and one with the head cut off, all of them Ethiopians, and painted black, while the persons that were performing the decapitation and held the sword were painted red. In whatever ant tude the figure is represented, the heads are always in pro file, and the legs in the same line, the one advanced a little before the other, and, as we have already observ ed, not incorrect in proportion, but without any round ing of light and shade, blending of colours, grouping, or perspective.
We shall now quit the eastern cradle of the arts, to trace their dawning in the more genial soil of Europe, where, under the fostering influence of freedom, they soon began to show the presage of their future excellence; for no fact is more surely dedticible from the history of the fine arts, than their dependence on the encouragement or paralyz ing power of governments. They are only found to flou rish under those happy forms of rule, where neither the fetters of priestcraft, nor the weight of oppression and ab solute sway, chain down the genius and energy of our ture—where merit obtains honour and reward—where the road to renown lies open to every aspirant—where wealth creates a demand for the elegancies of life, and where good taste invites the wealthy to seek the road to distinc tion as encouragers of talent. Such appear to have been the circumstances of the ancient state of Etruria, the most powerful and civilized of the early nations of Italy. Their dominion extended nearly over the whole range of that de lightful peninsula, except sonic part of the northern pro vinces of Lombardy and Venice. They were called Ter reni ; and Livy, (dec. i. lib. i.) mentions their dominion, both by sea and land, to have been very extensive. We )earn from Diodorus Siculus that there were many rich and powerful cities in their territories, and that for many ages their fleets ruled with uncontrolled sway over all the seas that surround Italy. They were exceedingly jealous of their liberty, the form of government being a sort of oli garchy, resembling that adopted at an after period by ma ny of the Greek states.
Notwithstanding the rank it attained as a state among its contemporaries, there is very little known of the an cient history of Etruria—of indigenous historians not one remnant has reached our day ; and the few inscriptions that remain are obscured by our ignorance of the lan guage in which they are written. There is every proba bility, however, that they were not without historians of their own nation, although no notice is taken of them by the Romans, who were too intent on transmitting to poste rity the record of their own triumphs only, and too anxious to veil in silence their own ignoble origin, to permit of their noticing the history of those nations whom they had supplanted in territory. We owe it most likely to the jealous policy of these invaders, that so few memorials of any kind remain of the aboriginal inhabitants of Italy. The
Romans themselves had little taste for any thing but con quest, and saw clearly enough how advantageous it was to their views, to destroy whatever might tend to keep alive the national spirit of the people whom they strove to sub ject. They therefore industriously removed all the me morials of ancient fame, preserved by these nations, and would out their names even from the page of history, had the preservation of them not been necessary to enhance their own fame in recording the victories by which they were subjugated.
Light enough, however, remains to demonstrate the knowledge possessed by the Etrurians of the sciences, and their cultivation of the fine arts long before the Roman name existed. The peculiar practice of this ancient peo ple in respect of the burial of their dead, had fortunately hid abundant proofs of their skill beyond the reach of Ro man jealousy ; thus prekerving specimens of their work manship, and knowledge of the fine arts, both from the ravages of their conquerors, and from the later flood of barbarism that settled on this land of elegance and taste. It was reserved for modern discovery to bring to light those remarkable proofs of attainment in painting at so early a period, before it was known at all in Greece, or perhaps in any other country of Europe. Near the an. cient Etruscan city of Tarquinia, ten or twelve miles from Civita Vecchia, there are a multitude of sepulchral grot tos scattered about the fields to the number of some thou sands, extending from Tarquinia down to the sea. Some of them are cut out of the rock, which is a tufa, and easily worked. They are of different forms—square, in the form of a cross, sometimes with three aisles like a church, and often in two stories communicating with each other. They are not deep, and generally situated under hillocks, through which a square aperture gives access to the grotto ; and there is generally a communication from one to another under ground. The rock is hewn out in an architectural manner in the inside, with pilasters and cornices support ing a vaulted arch. The cornice and pilasters are covered with arabesque paintings in had enough taste. The vault is likewise painted and divided into compartments; part of the colours remain distinct, particularly the red : the yellow is gone, but the blue and green may be distinguish ed. A frieze encircles the vault, which is ornamented with figures painted on it, sometimes very numerous, and painted quite in the taste of the figures 'upon Etruscan vases. They are generally clothed with long 'draperies, and have wings, bearing a spear in their hands, and in the attitude of fighting ; and some of them are in'cars drawn by one or two horses. There are doors represented, but no buildings, as the door seems to have served only as an indication of them, or for the symbolical mark of a house. The whole composition seems 'naturally enough to bear a reference to the passage of the soul into the Elysian fields. Above the frieze there are often inscribed the names of the deceased, or of the persons represented by the figures, sometimes in the Etruscan characters, and sometimes in Latin. The paintings are on the rock itself, without any preparation of plaster, so that they cannot be removed except by cutting out the piece. The peasantry, however, in search of treasure, have destroyed many of them.