The Sarcophagus of the Spouses, a terracotta sarcophagus from the sixth century B.C. that’s the most iconic masterpiece of Etruscan artwork, is present process an complete new restoration in public view. The sarcophagus is the jewel within the crown of the Nationwide Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome.
The sarcophagus is a monumental cinerary urn composed of a decrease half within the form of a kline, or mattress, and a prime half depicting a married couple reclining at a banquet. The spouses are the lid of the urn and the mattress is the place the ashes had been stored. Their placid archaic smiles, spooning our bodies and tender embrace testify to the loving bond between them — Etruscan ladies had been in a position to decide on their spouses and love matches had been frequent — and to the finesse and talent of Etruscan pottery makers.
The spouses weren’t the spouses after they had been first found on April ninth, 1881, within the Etruscan Banditaccia necropolis of Cervetri. The sarcophagus was only a pile of greater than 400 fragments unearthed on the property of Prince Francesco Ruspoli, however archaeologist and founder the Villa Giulia museum Felice Barnabei noticed a feminine head within the pile of fragments and knew it was one thing particular. His father was a majolica maker and Barnabei had labored in his father’s workshop as a youth, so he had a very eager eye for earthenware. He acknowledged that each one the fragments had been from the identical “furnace fireplace” and subsequently a part of a single massive artifact (albeit fired in sections as a result of it was far too massive to be achieved in a single fell swoop).
The one comparable sarcophagus with spouses ever discovered had been found within the Banditaccia necropolis by the Marquis Campana in 1854 and acquired together with one other 10,000 works by Napoleon III in 1861 and put in within the Louvre. With the feminine head and half a male head among the many fragments, Barnabei suspected it was one other sarcophagus of the spouses and he needed it for Rome’s new Etruscan museum. He had competitors, nonetheless. The director of the Archaeological Museum of Etruria in Florence needed the pile too. The struggle over the fragments went on for 12 years, till in 1893 Barnabei lastly made a bigger sufficient provide than his competitor (4,000 lire) and bought Prince Ruspoli to declare he would solely cede the fragments to the Villa Giulia museum.
The fragments had been puzzled again collectively and the magnificent outcomes turned the symbol of the brand new museum and its biggest draw. A second intervention to take care of the work was carried out 50 years in the past. The brand new venture will concentrate on learning the sarcophagus intimately to study extra about it and devise a plan for its long-term conservation and care. Will probably be laser scanned to create a 3D mannequin, and plaster casts are being made of each part. A brand new mounting system can also be being devised to exchange the invasive (and corrosive) metallic clamps with sturdy, robust and clear carbon fiber.
The primary section of the work has already begun. Restorers are cleansing the floor of the part of the sarcophagus with the legs and ft and the spouses, her ft sporting delicate pointed sneakers, his ft naked. Utilizing cotton swabs, water and gentle solvents to take away the outdated darked varnish that covers the terracotta.
The restoration workshop will probably be opened to the general public twice per week, on Tuesday and Thursday from 10 AM to 1 PM.
