Winged Figures at the Limits of Etruscan Art

This article concerns the transfer of visual formulae beyond the borders of Etruria, analyzing the selective uptake of “Etruscan” artistic forms in eastern and southern Italy. The evidence for this argument lies in winged figures from non-funerary contexts located within and at the geographical limits of the Etruscan world (terracotta sculptures from the temples on the Talamonaccio and at Civitalba, and wall painting at Boscoreale). It is argued that looking at winged figures can illuminate the character and duration of the reception of Etruscan visual forms in Adriatic central Italy and Campania. Winged figures in the Hellenistic period were something of a common currency across central and southern Italy, overlapping with other non-human beings such as satyrs. The figures may owe their origins to Etruscan cultural practice, but their art historical interest is in their adoption and adaptation in local contexts across Italy. Despite the eclipse of the Etruscan cities as independent political entities by the second century BCE, we can identify elements that recall Etruscan forms in the art of other Italian regions in this period, disseminated in part through Roman expansion. Such a conclusion, derived from the distribution of winged figures and focused on their reception, prompts us to question the geographical and chronological limits of “Etruscan” art.