A Reproduction of an Etruscan Tomb in the Parco dei Mostri at Bomarzo John P. Oleson The Art Bulletin, Vol.

57, No. 3. (Sep., 1975), pp. 410-417.

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A Reproduction of an Etruscan Tomb in the Parco dei

Mostri at Bomarzo
John P.
Bomarzo is a small town, typical of the tufa region around Viterbo, perched on a foothill of the Ciminian Mountains ninety kilometers north of Rome, 2.5 kilometers west of the Tiber. Etruscan tombs have been found nearby at Pianmiano, Piano della Colonna, and Monte Casuli, and there was probably an Etruscan, then a Roman settlement on the site. After apparently continuous occupation in late antiquity and the medieval period, a castle was built in the eleventh century. The Orsini family has local connections as early as the fourteenth century, and Gian Corrado Orsini, who came into possession of the town in 1502, immediately began to transform this castle into a Renaissance palace. Vicino Orsini, who ruled from 1532 to 1585, avidly continued this building activity in the town while simultaneously laying out a large pleasure garden below the west edge of the city plateau.1 This "Sacro Bosco," as Vicino Orsini called it, was a remarkable garden planned around twelve huge, grotesque sculptures carved in the immense masses of peperino projecting from the hillside. The modern name, "Parco dei Mostri," refers to this sculptural decoration. One of the numerous metrical epigrams (composed by Vicino himself) scattered around the garden summarizes the subject matter : Voi che pel mondo gite errando, vaghi Di veder meraviglie alte e stupende Venite qua, dove son faccie horrende, Elefanti, leoni, orsi, orchi et draghi.2 A tempietto built of tufa blocks occupies the highest part of the hilly site, and smaller portable sculptures, architectural elements, and benches are arranged around the colossi.3 The garden occupies an area 250 by 125m, but long vistas and the symmetrical design of the usual Renaissance garden have been studiously avoided; instead there are short avenues, partial symmetries, and a general air of chaos and surprise. According to literary and inscriptional evidence a t least part of the garden was completed by I 552, but most of the work seems to have been carried out between 1557 and 1563; then around 1580 Vicino Orsini had several pieces of sculpture painted. The exact chronology of the whole project, however, is still uncertain.4 There has been a great deal of scholarly discussion concerning the Sacro Bosco since the first extensive publication of the palace and garden in 1 9 5 5 . Numerous attempts have ~ been made to explain the ways in which this garden differs from the norm of the period : its asymmetry, the prominence given to sculpture, the strange subject matter and morphology, and the flaunting of scale and proportion.6 Calvesi, Battisti, and others are undoubtedly correct in asserting that the influence of contemporaryliterary works wasimportant.' I n the Hypnerotomachia poliphili of Francesco Colonna, published in Venice in 1499, the hero undergoes various trials and adventures in a magic park peopled by creatures quite similar to those of the Sacro Bosco. Similar situations also occur in the long poem "I1 Floridante" published in 1563-69 by Bernardo Tasso, a good friend of Vicino Orsini and father of Torquato Tasso. In Torquato Tasso's "Gerusalemme," published in 1572-73 after the garden was at least partially complete, the parallels are even closer.* Thus Vicino Orsini may have wished to reproduce in his garden the magic environment of a popular, contemporary literary device. Josephine von Henneberg, who discovered from

I would like to thank Professor David R. Coffin for reading a preliminary version of this paper and making numerous suggestions, and Eric Jan Oleson who was of great assistance in obtaining research materials. The primary source for Bomarzo is the "fascicolo special dedicata alla villa Orsini di Bomarzo," published in Quaderni dell'lstituto di Storia dell'Architettura, VII-rx, 1955, containing five articles: 4. Bruschi, "L'Abitato di Bomarzo e la Villa Orsini," 3-18; G. Zander, "Gli elementi documentari sul sacro bosco," 19-32; F. Fasolo, "Analisi stilistica del sacro bosco," 33-60; L. Benevolo, "Saggio d'interpretazione storica del sacro bosco," 61-73; P. Portoghesi, "Nota sulla Villa Orsini di Pitigliano," 74-76. The historical information contained in this paper is derived mostly from the articles by Bruschi in this fascicle and in a later issue of Quaderni: "Nuovi dati documentari sulle opere orsiniane di Bomarzo," Quaderni, LV-LX, 1963, I 3-58. The best biographical information on Vicino Orsini can be found in J. von Henneberg, "Bomarzo: nuovi dati e un interpretazione," Storia dell'arte, xrrI, 1972, 43-55 and in J. Theurillat, Les mystires de Bomarzo et des Jardins symboliques de la Renaissance, Paris, 1973, esp. 23-59.
2 The inscriptions are contained in appendix 111 to the article by Zander,
"Elementi documentari."
3 The best description of the different elements of the garden is in Fasolo, "Analisi stilistica," 33f. ; see also Theurillat, Mystires, 3-14, 99-133. 4 Zander, "Elementi documentari," I gf. ; Bruschi, "Nuovi dati," 85f. ;
1

Von Henneberg, "Bomarzo," 43-49; Theurillat, Mystires, 29-53. The historical data is also summarized by M. Calvesi, "I1 sacro bosco di Bomarzo," Scritti di storia dell'arte i n onore di Lionello Venturi, Rome, 1956, I , 369-402. 5 The more important discussions published since 1955 are E. Battisti, L'Antirinascimento, Milan, 1 962, 1 24-133; A. Bruschi, "I1 problema storico di Bomarzo," Palladia, xIrI, 1963, 85-1 14; S. Settis, "Contributo a Bomarzo," Bollettino d'arte, LI, 1 966, 1 7-26; J. von Henneberg, "Bomarzo: The Extravagant Garden of Vicino Orsini," Italian Quarterly, xLIr, 1967, 3-19; E. Guldan, "Das Monster-Portal am Palazzo Zuccari in Rom," <eitschrift.fur Kunstgeschichte, XXXII, 969, 229-26 I . 1 6 Bruschi, "L'Abitato," 14f., "Problema storico," 85-90, I I I ; Benevolo, "Saggio," passim; Calvesi, "Sacro bosco," 369-371; Von Henneberg, "Bornarzo," 5 I . Calvesi, "Sacro bosco," passim; he is followed by Bruschi, "Problema storico," 85f.; by Settis, "Contributo," 1 7; and by Theurillat, Mystires, 29-31. For the possible relevance of passages in Ariosto's Orlando furioso see note 50 below. 8 Von Henneberg, "Extravagant Garden," 10-1 [,suggests that Torquato Tasso may have been inspired by a visit to Bomarzo itself, but in "Bomarzo," 49-5 I , she changes her position to emphasize the autobiographical nature of the sculptural program.

study of the Orsini family archives that Vicino Orsini spent the years 1553-56 in Flanders as a prisoner of war, has recently proposed a number of n'orthern European sources for the strange sculpture. She interprets the Bosco as a "symbolic itinerary of a biographical character" and proposes iconographical precedents in the triumphal processionals and spectacles that were popular in Flanders in the sixteenth century.9 In addition, the source of the Mouth of Hell motif, exemplified at Bomarzo by the famous ogre's face, has been traced by E. Guldan to Flemish manuscript illustrations and paintings, although without reference to L'icino Orsini's involuntary stay in Flanders.10 Jacqueline Theurillat, however, who also underlines Renaissance delight in symbol and allegory, mentions the displays of a festival held in Rome by Paul I11 during 1545 as a possible Italian source of inspiration.11 A farfetched proposal that the sculpture was executed by Turkish prisoners captured at the Battle of Lepanto is untenable.1"ince none of these parallels are exact, however, Fasolo is undoubtedly correct in attributing the deciding influence to the character of Vicino Orsini himself, adilettantescholar of wide-ranginginterests.13 As we know from his letters. he took a direct, personal interest in the creation of his garden.1" An Etruscan element has often been noted in the general atmosphere of the garden, which resembles an Etruscan necropolis with its large masses of worked stone surrounded and animated by uncultivated vegetation.15 There are also some more tangible parallels in details of the iconography. The volutes forming part of the design in the carved panels on the podium on the tempietto are similar to motifs on some examples of seventh-century Etruscan jewelry. The winged and snake-legged female monsters can be compared
Von Henneberg, "Extravagant Garden," and "Bomarzo." Guldan, "Monster-Portal." 1' Theurillat, Mystires, 29. 12 P. Ratazzi, "Bomarzo, 'Leoni. orsi, orchi, e draghi,' " Sculpture Znternational, 111, 1969, 12-17, a relbriting of a chapter entitled "Turkish Monsters North of Rome," from I n Strangest Europe, London, 1968. He attributes this hypothesis to the "peasants of the locality . . . . " ( p . 16). Theurillat, Mystires, 21, 43, criticizes this suggestion.
lo

with representations on Etruscan cinerary urns, while the winged and fish-legged demons behind the Amphitrite fountain, which torture an unfortunate male figure with obvious delight, also resemble demoniac Etruscan motifs.16The famous ogre's face, which has a mouth stretched open wide enough to provide access to a small table and seats within, has been termed a "scherzo della tomba etrusca . . . trasformata . . . i n sala di banchetto. . . "17 This Etruscan component has been attributed to a number of factors: the use of tufa as a medium, the influence of Etruscan grave goods found in tombs around Bomarzo, and even the local survival of Etruscan patterns of taste and thought in the person of Vicino Orsini and his workmen.18 Such references to Etruscan iconographical or spiritual sources have been criticized by recent scholars, who seek a unitary explanation of the sculptural program,lg but it nevertheless remains impossible to comprehend the garden or its creator fully without reference to them. In regard to this dispute, Vicino Orsini's interest in antiquities, revealed by his letters, by the inscriptions he placed in the garden, and possibly by his association with the Accademia Vitruviana - a scholarly group organized by his friend Claudio Tolomei, certainly becomes an important factor.20 One scholar has suggested that the statue of an elephant killing a soldier in the Bosco derives ultimately from a similar Hellenistic Greek group, closely copied at Vicino Orsini's direction from the design on a Roman plate or gem discovered near Bomarzo.21 Precise documentation of such a source would provide an excellent example of the nature of his antiquarianism. No one, however, has yet been able to point out a specific source for any of these Etruscan motifs. In consequence, the character and extent of Vicino Orsini's knowledge of the
as a scherzo is a further bond uith the atmosphere of the Etruscan rockcut necropoli. Prior to their discovery and scientific publication by the outside world, the Etruscan tomb faqades were looked upon by local peasants as "scherzi," freaks produced either by nature or by the caprice of their ancestors. This attitude is documented by George Dennis in a story concerning the discovery of the necropolis of Sovana by S. I. Xinsley in 1843 (G. Dennis, Cities andcemeteries o f Etruria, 3rd ed., London 1883, 11, 2-3). After being informed by the locals that there were no antiquities in the neighborhood of Sovana, Mr. Xinsley undertook his own survey and was surprised to find a large necropolis cut in the cliffs around the town. His surprise and delight at this discovery explained to the villagers who accompanied him the nature of the objects he was seeking. They were no less astonished to find a stranger display such interest in what to their simple minds was meaningless, or a mere "scherzo" - a freak of Nature imitating Art, or a fanciful work carved in an idle or wanton mood by the "rude forefathers of the hamlet." "Scherzi, scherzi! - is that the roba you want ? There are plenty of such whims" cried they; and they led him from one rock hewn monument to another, which excited his surprise and admiration by their multitude, variety and novel character.. . . 1 s See the references in note 16 above. along with Zander, "Elementi documentari," Appendix r. Bacino, "Bornarzo," emphasizes "i modi autoctoni etruschi." Von Henneberg, "Extravagant Garden," 6 and "Bomarzo," 51 ; Theurillat, Mystires, 99, seems to be criticizing this theory. 20 Battisti, L'Antirinascimento, 125; Bruschi, "Problema storico," 104. Theurillat's Mystires is actually in large part an attempt to attribute the Sacro Bosco to the architect Pirro Ligorio, a man passionately interested in the archaeological and literary remains of Roman antiquity. She constantly utilizes Ligorio's antiquarian interests to explain the classical flavor of much of the garden's iconography. Settis, "Contributo," r 7-26; cf. Theurillat, Mystires, 107-109.
19

Fasolo, "Analisi stilistica," 55-60; agreement is expressed by Calvesi, "Sacro-bosco," 367-37 1. See also Bruschi, "Problema storlco, 111, Nuol i dati," 13-14. In his introduction to Theurillat, Mystires, P. Grimal writes "La villa de Bomarzo apparait comme un rCve d'humaniste archCologue" (p. xi). Zander, "Elementi documentari," passzm; Bruschi, "Nuoli dati, passim; Theur~llat, Mwtires, 50f.; Yon Henneberg, "Extravagant Garden," 6f. Von Henneberg's conception of the garden as an allegorical autobiography is, of course. predicated on this idea.
13

E. Bacino, "Bomarzo, paradiso perduto," Giornale di Sicilia, 30 June 1951; Bruschi, "L'Abitato." 1 4 ; Zander, "Elementi documentari," 26, n. 16, cites an unpublished talk on this theme by Luigi Lotti to the Associazione Xrcheologica Romana ; Fasolo. "Xnalisi stilistica," 44f. : Battisti, L'Antirinascimento, 126; Bruschi, "Problema storico," 105: Settis, "Contributo," 17. In the light of this Etruscan element, it is amusing to note that journalistic publications concerning the bosco, like naive publications concerning Etruscan civilization, emphasize the "mystery" of the place: e.g. G. Bazin, "Le mystere du bois sacrC de Bomarzo," L'Oeil, XLIII-XLIV, 1958, 54-59, 84.
15

Specific documentation can be found in Fasolo, "Analisi stilistica," 33f., 42 ; see also Battisti, L'dntirinascirnento, r26f. ; Settis, "Contributo." r 7f. 1' Battisti, L'Antirinascimento, r 29. The evaluation of this piece of sculpture
16

"

Sculptured f a ~ a d eBomarzo (photo :author) ,

antiquities in which southern Etruria is so rich have remained obscure. In the light of this difficulty, one piece of sculpture in the park, which curiously has escaped adequate publication, takes on a new importance.22 This monument, which lies just west of the garden path, approximately fifty meters north of the present entrance to the parkF3 is cut in an irregular peperino mass 7.om long, 2.40m high, and about 3.om thick (Fig. I ) . The lower half of the boulder has been trimmed with a punch, but left rough, and the upper part has been carefully carved to represent the right half of a gabled facade (3.50m high) with central niche and door. Although the block gives the impression of having broken free from a complete monument and tumbled down the slope, the left side of the faqade never existed, and the
The only mention of the monument in Fasolo, "Analisi stilistica," a, is brief and misleading: ". . un blocco erratic0 in cui nella faccia lavorata e stata concepita una decorazione (quesi metopa) pertenente ad una aerolitica architettura in crollo . . In the poor accompanying photograph (fig. 40), the block appears to be partly buried in the soil. Theurillat, Mystires, describes the monument twice (pp. 12-13, 125; no photographs) in superficial passages badly misinterpreting the pedimental sculpture: "Deux demi-colonnes soutiennent un fronton mutilt reprbsentant une sctne mythologique: un guerrier casqut, qui porte son Cpte sur l'tpaule et souffle dans une conque marine,B c6tt d'une nymphe pareille B la fausse sirtne. Alentour fol5trent trois dauphins" (p. 12). She feels that the "nymph" behind the male torso holds a symbolic pomegranate in her hand (p. I 25). 23 The original entrance to the Bosco appears to have been located on the hill near the tempietto; Fasolo, "Analisi stilistica," 33f.

22

. ."

2 Sculptured f ' a ~ a d e (detail), Bomarzo (photo: author)

worked base cannot have been buried in the earth as a foundation.24 The scenic effect and illusion of a ruin are intentional. Two Corinthian pilasters (2.om high) are carved in low relief to the right of the niche and a t the right corner of the facade, rising directly from the unworked area at the base to the bottom edge of the pediment. The corner pilaster, which at present is almost entirely buried in the earth, has a low base composed of a single torus above a plinth. A horizontal cornice (0.27rn high) composed of a fascia, cavetto, and fillet, runs between (not above) the two capitals, but is replaced by a simple fascia over the niche. The capitals themselves (o.33m high and wide) have strong corner volutes - reminiscent of Hellenistic Etruscan Aeolic capitals25 - framing the central acanthus motif, supported by a thin torus (Fig. 3). A faint horizontal ridge, perhaps delineating a dado, runs between the two pilasters 1.10m above their bases, just below a vertical fishbone or branch motif carved in relief. The raking cornice (o.qom high), composed of a cavetto and fillet below a larger cavetto and fillet, springs from a block-like lateral cornice which extends back along the flank. The surface of the sloping roof behind the gable is carved to represent alternate rows of flat pan tiles and curved cover tiles. (Fig. 2 ) . The pediment (Fig. 3), which is I .25m high at its present apex, contains a group of remarkable figures carved in basrelief (ca. o.05m deep). A monstrous figure (a Triton?, I . I gm high) with human head and shoulders, medial wings, and a scaly fish-tail fills the central part of the field, facing left. He carries a rudder or oar over his right shoulder and holds a twisted animal or sea-shell horn to his uplifted mouth with his left hand. The upper part of a small, humanoid figure with scaly skin (or possibly a fur jacket) grows from the center of the tail, facing outward and saluting with its right arm, which possibly holds a fruit. A whiskered, serpentine dolphin or eel fills the space above the remaining section of the tail, and a ram-headed fish leaps from the right corner, above a long, scaly snake or eel whose head is now buried in the corner. A low step (0.25m high) crosses the bottom of the niche (2.om high, o.65m deep), which is partly backed by a broken partition wall. The opening was evidently designed to lead by means of two steps to a "chamber" holding a row of arcuated niches (0.5om high, o.3Im wide, o.32m deep, with a cornice o.07m wide), round in plan, with dished bottoms (Figs. 4-5). Three of these remain intact, each
Pace Theurillat, Mystdres, I 2- I 3. Note especially the Aeolic capitals of the pilasters around the walls of the Tomba dei Rilievi at Cerveteri: A. Ciasca, I1 capitello detto eolico in Etruria, Florence, 1962, 31-32> 42-43, pl. I 1.2, 32.1. The figured capitals of the Tomba Pola at Sovana and the Tomba Campana at Vulci also have Aeolic volutes: E. von Mercklin, Antike, Figuralkapitelle, Berlin, 1962, 78-79, No. 196, 79-80, S o . 198. 26 P. Giannini, Centri etruschi e romani del Viterbese, 2nd ed., Viterbo. 1970, 133, notes the general similarities to the Sacro Bosco. A fuller publication is contained in E. Wetter, "Ricerche topografiche nei territori circostanti Aqua Rossa," Skrifter Utgiona ao Svenska Institutet i Rom, xxx, 1969, '32-34.
2 The best general discussions of this tomb are G. Rosi, "Sepulchral
7 Architecture as Illustrated by the Rock-Facades of Central Etruria,"
Journal of Roman Studies, xv, 1925, 33-36; R . Bianchi-Bandinelli, Sooana,
Florence, 1929. 61-70; A. Akerstrom, Studien uber die etruskischen Graber,
Lund, I g34,j8,85-86,g4, I 02-03, I 06.
2 4

corresponding to a low step or cutting below, and a fourth was either left unfinished or has been broken since its execution. This strange monument does not correspond to any specifically Renaissance inspiration, nor does it have any parallels in the ancient remains surviving in the immediate vicinity of Bomarzo. A number of curious altars and tomb monuments were carved in large blocks of peperino in the nearby Selva di Malano during the Roman period, but none of them resemble the faqade in the Sacro Bosco.26 Since Vicino Orsini undoubtedly knew of these Roman rock-carvings, they may have stimulated his original desire to create a more elaborate sculpture garden of his own at Bomarzo, but the designs he ultimately chose owe nothing to the monuments in the Selva di Malano. The sculptured f a ~ a d e the Bosco has a very different in source, important for our understanding of educated interest in the Etruscans during the sixteenth century: it is a fullsized, substantially accurate reproduction of a rock-cut, Etruscan aedicula tomb, a tomb type that was popular in southern Etruria during the third and second centuries B.c." The closest parallels can be drawn with the Tomba della Sirena (Fig. 6-7) and the Tomba del Tifone (Fig. 8), two tomb faqades of the late third or early second centuries B.C. at Sovana, one of the tufa necropoli richest in sculptural decoration and variety of design.28 Other gabled, aedicula faqades, however, occur a t Sovana, Norchia, and S. Giulian0.29 The Tomba della Sirena lacks the pilasters of the Bomarzo design but displays a snake-legged Scylla with oar in the pediment, while the Tomba del Tifone had both fluted pilasters and a sculptured gable. Since aedicula faqades of this type have no direct connection with their burial chambers, the presence of an opening leading to arcuated niches with depressions for ash urns in the Bomarzo faqade is probably a confusion with a type of columbarium common in southern Etruria during the Roman period.30 Nevertheless, the general effect of the faqade is strikingly accurate. Even the picturesque fracture down the center, although obviously not part of any original ancient design, can be paralleled in the Tomba della Sirena at Sovana (Fig. 7) and the Tomba Dorica I at Norchia (Fig. 9). The figures in the Bomarzo pediment can be compared only in a general way with the sculpture of these two tombs at Sovana, but there are numerous close parallels in the sculptured decoration of late Etruscan cinerary urns (Fig. I o) .3l Furthermore,
'8 For the Tomba della Sirena see J. C. Carter, "The Tomb of the Siren," .4merican Journal of Archaeology, L ~ ~ V I I I g 74, I 3 1-39 ; containing some , previous bibliography. For the Tomba del Tifone see Bianchi-Bandinelli, Sovana, 66-67, fig. 39, pl. 28. 1 reached this conclusion independently of Theurillat, who also cites the Tomba della Sirena (Mystdres, 125, 141). '9 For Sovana, Bianchi-Bandinelli, Sovana, 61-70; for Norchia, Rosi, "Sepulchral Architecture," 34, and M. Demus-Quatember, "Die Tomb,en mit Tempelfassade in der Nekropole von Norchia," Jahreshefte des Oesterreichischen Archaologischen Instituts, XL, I 953, I 08-11 7 ; for S. Giuliano, Rosi, "Sepulchral Architecture," 34-35 and A. Gargana, "La necropoli rupestre di S. Giuliano," Monumenti antichi, xxx111, 193I , 36163. 30 Bianchi-Bandinelli, Sovana, discusses a chamber of this sort, listed as No. 95 in his catalogue. 31 E. Brunn and G. Korte, I rilievi delle urne etrusche, Berlin, 1916,111, pls. x1.2, xv111.1-3, x ~ xxx.8, xx111.1,xx1x.3, xxx111.10.The closest parallels , can be drawn with xxx111.10, an urn from Chiusi (fig. I 2 ) .

5 '

414

THE A R T BULLETIN

3 Sculptured fa~ade (detail of pediment turned), Bomarzo (photo: author)

4 Sculptured fa~ade (detail of rear), Bomarzo (photo:author)

5 Sculptured facade (detail of niches), Bomarzo (photo:author)

6 Tomba della Sirena, Sovana (photo:author)

7 Tomba della Sirena (detail of pediment), Sovana (photo:author)

8 Tomba del Tifone, Sovana

(photo: author)

g Tombe Doriche, Norchia (photo: author)

10 Cinerary urn in Chiusi ehusche, 111,pl. xxxrlr, 10)

(from Brunn-Korte, Zrilievi delle urne

11

Cube-tomb with tiled porch roof, Norchia (photo: author)

there are strangely striking similarities between the figures in the pediment and details of frescoes in the fourth-century Tomb of Vel Urinates discovered near Bomarzo in the nineteenth century.32 The size of the monument in the Sacro Bosco, however, along with the presence of niches and the attempt to imitate a broken faqade, show that Vicino Orsini had an architectural model in mind rather than a small urn. The same intent is suggested by the tiled roof, which seldom appears on Etruscan urns but can be seen on many of the Hellenistic faqade tombs at Norchia (Fig. I I ), Castel d'Asso, and possibly originally at Sovana.33 I t is probable that Vicino Orsini drew his inspiration for the architectural form from actual necropolis faqades, whereas the design for the pedimental sculpture - although possibly copied directly from a faqade now lost or destroyed - came

from a non-architectural source. His scholarly eclecticism is justified by the final effect. It is important to attempt to localize the area in which Vicino Orsini would have had the opportunity to examine a rock-cut Etruscan tomb faqade with sculptured pediment. There are a number of Etruscan tombs in the vicinity of Bomarzo, but none appear to have had elaborate facades.34 The type occurs at other sites around Viterbo - such as Bieda and Norchia - both with and without sculpture, but the closest parallels are found farther north, at the necropolis of Sovana.35 I t is certainly not coincidental that another branch of the Orsini family owned a large palace at Pitigliano,36 a cathedral town seven kilometers south of Sovana; Vicino Orsini could easily have been received here as an occasional guest. Furthermore, two colossal statues have been carved in the tufa bedrock in the garden that was constructed by the family on a plateau near the town, as well as two curious, rock-cut constructions that closely resemble the Etruscan tomb faqades of Sovana (Figs. I 2-14). The first faqade (Fig. 13), a cube ( I.60m wide, 2.2om high) that has a complex, projecting crowning molding and a bench with dolphin ( ? ) armrests, is very similar to the "tombe a dado" or cube-tomb faqades that constitute the most common design in the tufa necropoli of southern Etruria.37 The moldings and bench-rests are not accurate, but the general effect is unmistakable. The second faqade (Fig. 14), an undecorated, round tower (2.40m high, ca. 2.50m diameter across the top) with a low, rock-cut bench (0.50m high, o.87m wide) around three-quarters of the base, is less obviously Etruscan in inspiration but does resemble the design of the Tomba del Sileno, recently

32 S.

Camilli, Annali dell'lstituto di Correspondenza Archeologica, IV, 1832, 284-285 ; Monumenti inediti pubblicati dall'lstituto di Correspondenza Archeologica, I, pl. 42; Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries, I, 168-171. This tomb is mentioned by Battisti, L'Antirinascimento, 415,n. 66. 33 There are a number of unpublished cube-tombs with "tiled" porch roofs along the east slope of the Fosso Pile at Norchia; for Caste1 d'Asso see G. and E. Colonna, Castel d'Asso, Rome, 1970, I, 163-68, No. 75. 34 Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries, I, I 64f. ;Giannini, Centri etruschi, 92-95. 35 For Bieda see H. Koch et al., "Bieda," Mitteilungen des deutschen arch-

dologischen Institutes, Rhische Abteilung, xxx, 1915,233-"2. For Norchia and Sovana see note 29 above. 36 The Orsini garden and villa at Pitigliano have been given preliminary publication in Portoghesi, "Pitigliano," 74-76. See also Theurillat, Mystires, 139-141, where work on the garden is attributed to Latino Orsini. 37 Major discussions of the Etruscan cube-tomb are Koch, "Bieda," 242-247; Rosi, "Sepulchral Architecture," 19-20; Bianchi-Bandinelli, Sovana, 44-56; Akerstrom, Studien, 73-74,78-83, 102, 104-107.

12 Sculptured facades, Pitigliano (photo: author)

13 Sculptured faqade, Pitigliano (photo: author)

14 Sculptured facade, Pitigliano (photo: author)

discovered at Sovana.38 Both of these facades were cut in the bedrock at the very edge of a dramatic cliff, not only providing an extensive view to anyone seated on their benches but also reproducing the general effect of the regional Etruscan necropoli (Fig. 12). Portoghesi, who dates the sculpture at Pitigliano to ca. 1550 on historical and stylistic grounds, has already suggested that the whole sculpture garden may have been inspired by the work at Bomarzo. I n addition, he mentions the similarities between these two facades and the tombs at Sovana; in the light of the tomb reproduction at Bomarzo published above, this suggestion now seems likely. Vicino Orsini undoubtedly came to Pitigliano himself, drawing inspiration from the fascinating tombs at Sovana and urging his relatives to begin their own Sacro Bosco, which was, however, never finished and certainly would never have equalled the creations in the park at Bomarzo. One of Vicino's inscriptions boasts justifiably of the unique nature of his project: Cedan et Memphi e ogni altra meraviglia Ch'ebbe g i i il mondo in pregio a1 sacro bosco Che sol se stesso e null'altro somiglia.39 The detail and accuracy of the tomb reproduction puts the Etruscan component of the Sacro Bosco on a more solid footing than previous evidence, revealing an almost scholarly side to Vicino Orsini's interest in regional antiquities. He must have visited several Etruscan rock-cut necropoli besides Sovana in order to have formed such an

accurate impression of the design of a gabled aedicula tomb, and details of the sculptured decoration could have been suggested both by the tombs themselves and by frescoes, funerary urns, or minor objects discovered near Bomarzo or seen by Vicino in private collections.40 The sixteenth century was a period of growing interest in the Etruscans, and the interchange among interested scholars and artists in Tuscany may have been more extensive than previously realized. Vicino Orsini himself can be associated with a number of contemporaries who were at least peripherally concerned with the subject. His friend Claudio Tolomei founded the Accademia Vitruviana, whose meetings were concerned with antiquarian topics,41 and his scholarly relation Fulvio Orsini ( I 529-1 600) served as librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and did the buying for his collection of antiquities.42 Bruschi has suggested that Michelangelo, whose famous doodle of the head of an Etruscan Hades (dated to 1517-1534) shows that he must have visited at least one Etruscan tomb chamber, may have attended some meetings of Tolomei's Accademia.43 The literary forgeries of Annio da Viterbo (1432-1 502), first published in 1498, include a large number of supposedly ancient passages on Etruria and the Etruscans, constituting the most remarkable monument of Etruscomania in this period.44 Vicino Orsini must have known of this book, since it was concerned with the history of Viterbo, suited his esoteric tastes, and was translated into Italian by his close

39 Theurillat,

P. E. Arias, Notizie degliscavi di antichiki, 1 97 I , 58-84. Mystdres, 49, proposes a new reading of the first line of this inscription: "Cedano Memphis et ogni altra meraviglia." 40 In this regard it is interesting to recall Von Henneberg's interpretation of the garden as a symbolic autobiography; see above note 9. 4 1 Battisti, L'Antirinascimento, 125; Bruschi, "Problema storico," 104. On Vicino Orsini's circle of friends see Theurillat, Mystdres, passim and Von Henneberg, "Extravagant Garden," qf. 42 T . de Marinis, "Orsini, Fulvio," in Enciclopedia italiana, xxv, Rome,

1935,607-08;Theurillat, Mystdres, 62-63. Bruschi, "Problema storica," 104. For Michelangelo's acquaintance with Etruscan tombs see E. Panofsky, "The Mouse That Michelangelo Failed to Carve," Essays in Memory of Karl Lehmann, New York, 1964, 242-25 I. 44 Fra Giovanni Nanni (Annio da Viterbo), Commentaria supra opera diversorum auctorum de antiquitatibus loqumtium confecta, Rome, 1498. This remarkable character is discussed in Dennis, Cities andcemeteries, I, 1 50-5 I , andJ. Wellard, The Searchfor the Etruscans, London, 1973,2733.
43

friend and family biographer Francesco Sansovin0.~5 The "Etruscan Tomb" in the Bosco is the same type of erudite imitation as Annio's forgeries, but done without the serious attempt to deceive. I n addition, it should be noted that Benvenuto Cellini, who may have repaired the famous Chimaera of Florence soon after its discovery in 1553,46 was acquainted with the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, Francesco's father.47 Jacopo, in turn, was the pupil and adopted son of Andrea Sansovino, whose tombs of the Cardinal Sforza and Della Rovere in the Church of S. Maria del Popolo in Rome show the marked influence of Etruscan s ~ u l p t u r e . ~ 8 Since they can even be closely compared in structure and form with the Tomba della Sirena at Sovana, one scholar has recently suggested that Sansovino may actually have seen this tomb.49 Certainly many of these connections may only be fortuitous, but their very number and complexity emphasize the climate of discovery in which Vicino Orsini's fertile imagination found itself at work.50 Florida State University

45

F. Sansovino, L e antichiti di Beroso Caldeo, 1583. Francesco Sansovino also wrote L'Historia di casa orsini e de gli huomoni illustri di casa orsini, Venice, I 565. 46 Benvenuto Cellini, Autobiography, 11, chap. LXXXVII. L. Banti, I1 mondo degli etruschi, 2nd ed., Rome, 1969, 228, expresses doubt that Cellini actually carried out any work on the Chimaera.
4' 48

Cellini, Autobiography, I, chaps. LXXVI, LXXVIII; chap. LXII. 11, G. S. Davies, Renascence, T h e ScuQtured Tombs o f the Fifteenth Ccntury in Rome, London, 1910, I 76f.
49
50

Carter, "Tomb of the Siren," 138, n. 49. There is a large, but scattered, body of work concerning Renaissance knowledge of the Etruscans and their art. In addition to the references cited above, see M. Pallottino, Etruscologia, 6th ed., Milan, 1968, 2-3; M. Pallottino, "Tarquinia," Monumenti antichi, xxxvr, 1937, ~ g f . C.C. van ; Essen, "Elementi etruschi nel rinascimento toscano," Studi etruschi, XIII, 1939, 497-99, pls. 43-45. F. Weege, in his interesting, but erratic, Etruskische Malerei, Halle, 1921,traces a supposed survival of Etruscan modes of thought and artistic expression in medieval and Renaissance Tuscany, as well as listing documentation of Renaissance contact with Etruscan antiquities. H e proposes at one point (p. 72f.) that Ariosto is describing Etruscan tombs in several passages of Orlando furioso. A. Chaste1 has also published on the subject: "L' 'Etruscan Revival' du XVe sikcle," Rivue archeologique, 1959, 165-180, and "Le Mus6e etrusque et 1' 'etruscan revival,' " in Art et humanisme d Florence, Paris, 1959, 63-71. Several more recent articles have discussed the influence of Etruscan works of art on Tuscan artists of the Renaissance: J. R. Spencer, "Volterra, 1466," Art Bulletin, XLVIII, 1966, 95-96; M. Trachtenberg, "An Antique Model for Donatello's Marble David," Art Bulletin, L, 1968, 268-69. Sections of R. Weiss, T h e Renaissance D i s c o ~ e i y o f Classical Antiquity, London, 1969, are relevant to this topic.

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You have printed the following article: A Reproduction of an Etruscan Tomb in the Parco dei Mostri at Bomarzo John P. Oleson The Art Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 3. (Sep., 1975), pp. 410-417.
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28

The Tomb of the Siren Joseph Coleman Carter American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 78, No. 2. (Apr., 1974), pp. 131-139.
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Volterra, 1466 John R. Spencer The Art Bulletin, Vol. 48, No. 1. (Mar., 1966), pp. 95-96.
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An Antique Model for Donatello's Marble David Marvin Trachtenberg The Art Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 3. (Sep., 1968), pp. 268-269.
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