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# Etruscan Art: Enigmatic and Alluring
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/etrusskoe-iskusstvo-zagadochnoe-i-pritiagatelnoe/
- Published: 2025-12-18T06:33:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:40.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Art, Books, Heritage

In this case we are dealing with a monument described in the books: a funerary urn of the early 4th century BC bearing the image of the spirit of the deceased and of a guardian spirit.

As you can see, the present state of the sculptural group differs markedly from the drawing in a book on Etruscan art of 1889: the sarcophagus has lost details introduced in the 19th century, for example, the flanking figures of naked handmaidens and winged maidens.

An enormous proportion of Etruscan objects comes from tomb robbers, who have been professionally opening burials for not one century already. Dealers in artefacts have a habit of smashing particularly valuable sculptures and, for instance, selling them piecemeal to increase their takings, or of restoring finds in amateur fashion to give them a more elaborate appearance, including by adding details seen on other monuments.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_19107@18-12-2025_09-33-48.jpg)