Chapter 4

(R. N.)

Language

1. By “Etruscan” is meant the language spoken by the people called Etrusci (more commonly Tusci) by the Romans, Turskum numen (i.e.Tuscum nomen) by their neighbours the Umbrians of Iguvium (q.v.), andΤυρσηνοί(later,e.g.in Strabo’s time,Τυρρηνοί) by the Greeks. Their own name for themselves wasRasénna(orRaséna), according to Dionysius Halic. (i. 30), but it seems now to be fairly probable that this was no more than the name of a leading house (represented later on in Pisa and elsewhere) dominant at some fairly early date in some one locality (see below). Niebuhr attempted on slender grounds (Rom. Hist., ed. 3 [Eng. trans.], i. p. 41) to distinguish between theΤυρρηνοίand the Tusci in order to accept the strongly supported tradition of a Lydian origin for the “Tyrrhenes” (see below), while rejecting it for the “Tuscans,” but no one has since attempted to maintain the distinction (Dittenberger,Hermes, 1906, p. 85, footnote, regards the form-ηνοίas a “Graecized form of a local name” equivalent toTusci), and we now know enough of the morphology of Etruscan names to recognizeTur-s-co-andTur-s-ēno-as closely parallel Etrusco-Latin stems, cf.Venu-c-ius: Venu-senusboth from Etr.venu(Schulze,Lat. Eigennamen, p. 405) andRas-ena: Ras-c-anius(ibid.p. 92); orVoluscus, Volscus:Volusēnus(where the formative suffixes in each word are Etrusco-Latin whether the root be the same or not). But the analysis of the names cannot be entirely satisfactory until the first syllable of Etrusci—in Greek writers sometimesἝτρουσκοι,e.g.inStrabo—ed. Meineke—has been explained.

2. The extent of territory over which this language was spoken varied considerably at different epochs, but we have only a few fixed points of chronology. From two separate sources, both traditional and probably sound (Dion. Hal. i. 26, and Plutarch,Sulla, 7; cf. Varro, quoted by Censorinus c. 17. 6), we should ascribe the first appearance of the Etruscans in Italy to the 12th centuryB.C.The intimate connexion in form between the namesRoma, Romulusand the Etruscan gentes rumate, rumulna (Romatia, Romilia, &c.), and the fact that many of the early names in Rome (e.g.Ratumenna, Capena, Tities, Luceres, Ramnes) are characteristically Etruscan, justifies the conclusion that the foundation of the city, in the sense at least of its earliest fortification, was due to Etruscans (Schulze, p. 580). The most likely interpretation of Cato’s date for the Etruscan “foundation” of Capua is 598B.C.(Conway, Italic Dialects, pp. 99 and 83). In 524B.C.(Dion. Hal. vii. 2) the Etruscans were defeated by Aristodemus of Cumae, and in 474 by Hiero of Syracuse in a great naval battle off Cumae. Between 445 and 425 (It. Dial.l.c.) they were driven out of Capua by the Samnites, but they lingered in parts of Campania (as far south as Salernum) till at least the next century, as inscriptions show (ib.pp. 94 ff., 53), as at Praeneste and Tusculum (ib.p. 310 ff.) till the 3rd century or later. In Etruria itself the oldest inscriptions (on the stelae of Faesulae and Volaterrae) can hardly be later than the 6th centuryB.C.(C. Pauli,Altital. Forsch.ii. part 2, 24 ff.); the Romans had become dominant early in the 3rd century (C.I.L. xi. 1passim), but the bulk of the Etruscan inscriptions show later forms than those found in the old town of Volsinii destroyed by the Romans in 280B.C.(C. Pauli,ib.i. 127). In the north of Italy we find Etruscan written in two alphabets (of Sondrio and Bozen) between 300 and 150B.C.(id.ib.pp. 63 and 126). The evidence of an Etruscan linen book wrapped round a mummy (see below) seems to suggest that there was some Etruscan colony at Alexandria in the period of the Ptolemies. At least one Etruscan suffix has passed into the Romance languages,-iθaor-itain Etr.lautniθa(fromlautni“familiaris,” or “libertus”), and Etr.-Lat.Iulitta, which became Ital.-etta, Fr.-Eng.-ette.

3. Finally must be mentioned the remarkable pre-Hellenic epitaph discovered on the island of Lemnos in 1885 (Pauli,Altital. Forsch.ii. 1 and 2), the language of which offers remarkable resemblances to Etruscan, especially in the phraseśialχveiz aviz(? = “fifty years old”); cf. Etr.cealχus avils(? “twenty years old”); and the pair of endings-ezi, -alein consecutive words; cf. Etr.larθiale hulχniesi; the style of the sculptural figure has also parallels in the oldest type of Etruscan monuments. The alphabet of this inscription is identical (Kirchhoff,Stud. Griech. Alphab., 4th ed., p. 54) with that of the older group of Phrygian inscriptions, which mention King Midas and are therefore older than 620B.C.With this should be combined the fact that a marked peculiarity of the South-Etruscan alphabet (↑ = f, but earlier = the Greekdigamma) has demonstrably arisen out of= q on Phrygian soil, seeClass. Rev.xii., 1898, p. 462. Despite the reasonable but not unanswerable difficulty of Kretschmer (Einleitung in d. Geschichte d. griech. Sprache, 1896, p. 240), theweight of the evidence appears to be distinctly in favour of the Etruscan character of the language, and Pauli’s view is now generally accepted by students of Etruscan; hence the inclusion of the inscription in theCorpus Inscc. Etruscarum.

4. The first attempt to interpret Etruscan inscriptions was made by Phil. Buonarroti (Explic. et conject. ad monum.&c., Florence, 1726), who, as was almost inevitable at that epoch, tried to explain the language as a dialect of Latin. But no real study was possible before the determination of the alphabet by Lepsius (Inscc. Umbr. et Oscae, Leipzig, 1841), and his discovery that five of the Tables of Iguvium (q.v.), though written in Etruscan alphabet, contained a language akin to Latin but totally different from Etruscan, though some of the non-Italic peculiarities of Etruscan had been already pointed out by Ottfried Müller (Die Etrusker, Breslau, 1828). The earliest inscriptions,e.g.the terra-cotta stele of Capua of the 5th centuryB.C., are written in “serpentine boustrophedon,” but in its common form of the 3rd centuryB.C.the alphabet is retrograde, and has the following nineteen letters:—

On older monuments=koccurs as an archaic form ofc;=q;, a sibilant of some kind; and, this last mostly in foreign words. In the earlier monuments the cross-bars ofeandvandhhave a more decidedly oblique inclination, and s is often angular (). The mediaeb,g,d, though they often occur in words handed down by writers as Etruscan, are never found in the Etruscan inscriptions, though the presence of the mediae in the Umbrian and Oscan alphabets and in the abecedaria shows that they existed in the earliest form of the Etruscan alphabet, O is very rare. The form ↑ (earlier↑) =fin south Etruscan and Faliscan inscriptions should also be mentioned. Its combination withhshows that it had once served to denote the sound of digamma just as Latin F. The varieties of the alphabet in use between the Apennines and the Alps were first examined by Mommsen (Inschriften nord-etruskischen Alphabets, 1853), and have since been discussed by Pauli (Altitalische Forschungen, 1885-1894, esp. vol. iii.,Die Veneter, p. 218, where other references will be found, see alsoVeneti).

5. The determination of the alphabet was followed by a large number of different attempts to explain the Etruscan forms from words in some other language to which it was supposed that Etruscan might be akin; Scandinavian and Basque and Semitic have been tried among the rest. These attempts, however ingenious, have all proved fruitless; even the latest and least fanciful (Remarques sur le parenté de la langue étrusque, Copenhagen, 1899;Bulletin de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Danemark, 1899, p. 373), in which features of some living dialects of the Caucasus are cautiously compared by Prof. V. Thomsen (as independently by Pauli, see § 12), is at the best premature, and as to the numerals probably misleading. Worst of all was the effort of W. Corssen (Die Sprache der Etrusker, 1875), in whom learning and enthusiasm were combined with loose methods of both epigraphy and grammar, to revive the view of Buonarroti. The only solid achievement in the period of Corssen’s influence (1860-1880) was the description of the works of art (tombs, vases, mirrors and the like) from the different centres of Etruscan population; Dennis’sCities and Cemeteries of Etruria(1st ed., 1848; 2nd, 1878) contributes something even to the study of the language, because many of the figures in the scenes sculptured or engraved bear names in Etruscan form (e.g.usils, “sun”; or “of the sun,” on thetemplumof Placentia;fuflunś;, “Bacchus”;tuχulχa, a demon or fury; see Dennis,Cities, 2nd ed., frontispiece, and p. 354).

6. The reaction against Corssen’s method was led first by W. Deecke,Corssen und die Sprache der Etrusker(1876),Etruskische Forschungen(1875-1880), and continued by Carl Pauli at first jointly with Deecke and afterwards singly with greater power (Etruskische Studien, 1873),Etr. Forschungen u. Studien(Göttingen-Stuttgart, 1881-1884),Altitalische Studien(Hanover, 1883-1887);Altitalische Forschungen(Leipzig, 1885-1894). Of the work achieved during the last generation by him and the few but distinguished scholars associated with him (Danielsson, Schaefer, Skutsch and Torp) it may perhaps be said that, though the positive knowledge yet reaped is scanty, so much has been done in other ways that the prospect is full of promise. In the first place, the only sound method of dealing with an unknown language, that of interpreting the records of the language by their own internal evidence in the first instance (not by the use of imaginary parallels in better known languages whose kinship with the problematic language is merely assumed), has been finally established and is now followed even by scholars like Elia Lattes, who still retain some affection for the older point of view. By this means enough certainty has been obtained on many characteristic features of the language to bring about a general recognition of the fact that Etruscan, if we put aside its borrowings from the neighbouring dialects of Italy, is in no sense an Indo-European language. In the second place, the great undertaking of theCorpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum, founded by Carl Pauli, with the support of the Berlin Academy, conducted by him from 1893 till his death in 1901, and continued by Danielsson, Herbig and Torp, for the first time provided a sound basis for the study in a text of the inscriptions, edited with care and arranged according to their provenance. The first volume contains over four thousand inscriptions from the northern half of Etruria. Thirdly, the discoveries of recent years have richly increased the available material, especially by two documents each of some length. (1) The 5th-century stele of terra-cotta from S. Maria di Capua already cited, published by Buecheler inRhein. Museum, (lv., 1900, p. 1) and now in the Royal Museum at Berlin, is the longest Etruscan inscription yet found. Its best preserved part contains some two hundred words of continuous text, and is divided into paragraphs, of which the third may be cited in the reading approved by Danielsson and Torp, and with the division of words adopted by Torp (in hisBemerkungen zur etrusk. Inschr. von S. Maria di Capua, Christiania, 1905), to which the student may be referred. “iśvei tule ilucve, an priś laruns ilucuθuχ, nun: tiθuaial χues χaθc(e) anulis mulu rizile, ziz riin puiian acasri, ti-m an tule, leθam sul; ilucu-per priś an ti, ar vus; ta aius, nunθeri.” (2) The linen wrappings of an Egyptian mummy (of the Ptolemaic period) preserved in the Agram museum were observed to show on their inner surface some writing, which proved to be Etruscan and to contain more than a thousand words of largely continuous text (Krall, “Die etruskischen Mumienbinden des Agramer. Museums,”Denkschr. d. k. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, 41, Vienna, 1892). The writing has probably nothing to do with the mummy as it is on the inner surface of the bands, and these are torn fragments of the original book. The alphabet is of about the 3rd centuryB.C.

7. From the recurrence of a number of particular formulae with frequent numerals at intervals, the book seems to be a liturgical document. Torp has pointed out that the two documents have some forty words in common, and, with Lattes (“Primi Apprenti sulla grande iscriz. Etrusca,” &c., inRendic. d. Reale Inst. Lomb., serie ii. vol. xxxviii., 1900, p. 345 ff.), has shown that both contain lists of offerings made to certain gods (among them Suri, Leθam, and Calu); and Skutsch (Rhein. Mus.56, 1901, p. 639) has added a plausible conjecture as to the occasions of the offerings, based on the phrase “flerχva neθunsl” “Neptuni statua” (or “statuae pars”); Torp has made it very probable that the wordsvacl(orvacil) andnun, which recur at regular intervals in both, mean “address,” “recite,” “pray,” or the like, preceding or following spoken parts of the ritual.8. Along with the growth of the material, some positive increase in knowledge of the language has been attained. Independently of the work done upon particular inscriptions, such as that which has just been described, a considerable addition has come from the elaborate study of Latin proper names already mentioned by Prof. W. Schulze of Berlin (Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen, Berlin, 1904), which has incidentally embodied and somewhat extended the points of Etruscan nomenclature previously observed. The chief results for our purpose may be briefly stated. It will be convenient to use the following terms:—(1)praenomen= personal name of the individual.e.g.VelorLarof a man,Larθiorθanaof a woman.(2)nomen= family name.e.g.TiteorVipiorTetna, of men.TitiorVipineiorTetinei, of women.(3)cognomen= additional family name.e.g.FaruorPetruof men,Farui, Vetuiof women.(4)agnomen= special cognomen derived from the cognomen of the father.e.g.Hanusa(in Latin spellingHannossa) orPultusa(alsoPultus) of a man;Hanuniaof a woman.All these are commonly in the “nominative” (as the examples just quoted from Schulze, pp. 316-327) in sepulchral inscriptions.Besides these, we have certain other descriptions used in forms which may be called a “genitive-dative” case, or a “derivative possessive” Adjective. These may be entitled:—(5)paternum(a) = praenomen of father, used generally after thenomenof son or daughter.e.g.arnθal“ofArnθ.” more commonly simplyar, solsforLaris-al, to whichclan“son,” often abbreviatedc, andseχorsec(abbrev.s) “daughter,” are sometimes added.paternum(b) =nomenof father, used only after thepraenomenof a daughter (e.g.θana velθurnas, “Thana daughter of Velthurna”), to whichseχ“daughter,” often abbreviateds, is sometimes added.(6)maternum(a) = nomen of mother.e.g.pumpunial, “of Pumpuni” (in Lat. formPomponia);alfnal“of Alfnei” (Lat.Alfia);hetarias, “of Hetaria.”maternum(b) = cognomen of mother.e.g.vetnal, “of Vetui,” or “of Vetonia,”hesual, “of Hesui.”maternum(c) = agnomen of mother.e.g.cumeruniaś, “of Cumerunia,”i.e.“of a daughter of thecumeru-family.”(7)maritale—(i.)nomen, or (ii.)cognomen, or (iii.)agnomenof husband, used directly after thenomenof the wife, the wordpuia, “wife,” being often added.e.g.(i.)larθi cencui larcnasa, “Larthia Cenconia, wife of a Largena”; (ii.)larθia pulfnei spaspusa, “Larthia Pulfennia, wife of a Spaspo”; this form being the same as that used for theagnomenof a man (see above)—(iii.)hastia cainei leusla, “Hastia Caia, wife of a son of a Leo”; and with a longer and possibly not synonymous form of suffix,θania titi latinial śec hanuslisa, “Thania Titia, daughter of Latinia, wife of a Hanusa”—these secondary derivatives in-sla, &c., being an example of what is calledgenetivus genetivi, a characteristic Etruscan formation, not confined to this feminine use.These examples will probably enable the reader to interpret the great mass of the names on Etruscan tombs. It should be added (1) that no clear distinction can be drawn between the use of thecognominaand thenomina, though it is probable that in origin thecognomencame from some family connected with the gens by marriage; and (2) that thepraenomengenerally comes first, but sometimes second (especially when bothnomenandpraenomenare added in the genitive to the name of a son or daughter).9. The examples given illustrate also the few principles of inflexion and word-formation that are reasonably certain, for example, the various “genitival” endings. Those in-śand-lare also found in dedications where in Latin a dative would be used:—e.g.(mi)θuplθaś alpan turce“(hoc) deae Thupelthae donum dedit,” whereturceshows the only verbal inflection yet certainly known; cf.amce, “was,”arce, “made,”zilacnuce, “held the office of aZilaχ,”lupuce, “passed away.” More important are the formative principles which the proper names display. Endings-a, -u, -eand-naare common in the “Nominative”—and in Etruscan there appears to be no distinction between this case and the Accusative—of men’s names; the endings-i, -ei, -nei, -niaand-uniaare among the commonest for women’s names. But no trace of gender has yet been observed in common nouns or adjectives. Nor is it always easy to distinguish a “Case” from a noun-stem. The women’s names corresponding to the men’s names in-uare sometimes-ui, sometimes-nei, sometimes longer forms (ves-acnei, besideves-u, hanuniafromhanu). And the so-called Genitives can themselves be inflected, as we have seen. The formneθunsl“of Neptune,” may even have swallowed up the nominatival-sof the ItalicNeptunus.10. In view of the protracted discussion as to the numerals and the dice on which the first six are written, it should be added that only the following points are certain: (1) thatmaχ= one; (2) that the next five numbers are somehow represented byci, θu, huθ, saandzal; (3) and the next three somehow bycezp-, semφ-andmuv; (4) that the suffix-alχ-denotes the tens, or some of them,e.g.cealχ-besideci(? 50 and 5); (5) that the suffix-zor-sis multiplicative (es(a)lsfromzal). It is almost certain thatzalmust mean either 2 or 6, and of these a stronger case can, perhaps, be made for the latter meaning.Zathrumappears to be the corresponding ten (? 60). Skutsch’s article inIndogerm. Forschungen, v. p. 256, remains the best account.In close connexion with the numerals on sepulchral inscriptions appear the wordsril, “old, aged,”avils, “annorum,” or “aetatis,” andtivr, “month” (fromtiv, “moon”).11. Schulze has shown (e.g., p. 410) that a large number of familiar endings (e.g.those which when Latinized become-acius, -alius, -annius, -arius, -asius, -atius, -avus, -avius, -ax, and a similar series with-o-, -ocius, &c.), and further those with the elements,-lno-,-lino-, -enna, -eno-, -tern-, -turn-, -tric-, &c., exhibit different methods by whichnominawere built up frompraenominain Etruscan. Finally it is of considerable historical importance to observe that a great mass of thepraenominaused for this purpose are clearly of Italic origin,e.g.Helva, Barba, Vespa, Nero, Pedo, from all of which (and many more) there are derivatives which at one stage or other were certainly or probably Etruscan. It is this incorporation of Italic elements into the Etruscan nomenclature—itself a familiar and inevitable feature of the pirate-type of conquest and settlement, under which many women who bear and nurse and first name the children belong to the conquered race—that has entrapped so many scholars into the delusion that the language itself was Indo-European.

8. Along with the growth of the material, some positive increase in knowledge of the language has been attained. Independently of the work done upon particular inscriptions, such as that which has just been described, a considerable addition has come from the elaborate study of Latin proper names already mentioned by Prof. W. Schulze of Berlin (Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen, Berlin, 1904), which has incidentally embodied and somewhat extended the points of Etruscan nomenclature previously observed. The chief results for our purpose may be briefly stated. It will be convenient to use the following terms:—

(1)praenomen= personal name of the individual.

e.g.VelorLarof a man,Larθiorθanaof a woman.

(2)nomen= family name.

e.g.TiteorVipiorTetna, of men.TitiorVipineiorTetinei, of women.

(3)cognomen= additional family name.

e.g.FaruorPetruof men,Farui, Vetuiof women.

(4)agnomen= special cognomen derived from the cognomen of the father.

e.g.Hanusa(in Latin spellingHannossa) orPultusa(alsoPultus) of a man;Hanuniaof a woman.

All these are commonly in the “nominative” (as the examples just quoted from Schulze, pp. 316-327) in sepulchral inscriptions.

Besides these, we have certain other descriptions used in forms which may be called a “genitive-dative” case, or a “derivative possessive” Adjective. These may be entitled:—

(5)paternum(a) = praenomen of father, used generally after thenomenof son or daughter.

e.g.arnθal“ofArnθ.” more commonly simplyar, solsforLaris-al, to whichclan“son,” often abbreviatedc, andseχorsec(abbrev.s) “daughter,” are sometimes added.

paternum(b) =nomenof father, used only after thepraenomenof a daughter (e.g.θana velθurnas, “Thana daughter of Velthurna”), to whichseχ“daughter,” often abbreviateds, is sometimes added.

(6)maternum(a) = nomen of mother.

e.g.pumpunial, “of Pumpuni” (in Lat. formPomponia);alfnal“of Alfnei” (Lat.Alfia);hetarias, “of Hetaria.”

maternum(b) = cognomen of mother.

e.g.vetnal, “of Vetui,” or “of Vetonia,”hesual, “of Hesui.”

maternum(c) = agnomen of mother.

e.g.cumeruniaś, “of Cumerunia,”i.e.“of a daughter of thecumeru-family.”

(7)maritale—(i.)nomen, or (ii.)cognomen, or (iii.)agnomenof husband, used directly after thenomenof the wife, the wordpuia, “wife,” being often added.

e.g.(i.)larθi cencui larcnasa, “Larthia Cenconia, wife of a Largena”; (ii.)larθia pulfnei spaspusa, “Larthia Pulfennia, wife of a Spaspo”; this form being the same as that used for theagnomenof a man (see above)—(iii.)hastia cainei leusla, “Hastia Caia, wife of a son of a Leo”; and with a longer and possibly not synonymous form of suffix,θania titi latinial śec hanuslisa, “Thania Titia, daughter of Latinia, wife of a Hanusa”—these secondary derivatives in-sla, &c., being an example of what is calledgenetivus genetivi, a characteristic Etruscan formation, not confined to this feminine use.

These examples will probably enable the reader to interpret the great mass of the names on Etruscan tombs. It should be added (1) that no clear distinction can be drawn between the use of thecognominaand thenomina, though it is probable that in origin thecognomencame from some family connected with the gens by marriage; and (2) that thepraenomengenerally comes first, but sometimes second (especially when bothnomenandpraenomenare added in the genitive to the name of a son or daughter).

9. The examples given illustrate also the few principles of inflexion and word-formation that are reasonably certain, for example, the various “genitival” endings. Those in-śand-lare also found in dedications where in Latin a dative would be used:—e.g.(mi)θuplθaś alpan turce“(hoc) deae Thupelthae donum dedit,” whereturceshows the only verbal inflection yet certainly known; cf.amce, “was,”arce, “made,”zilacnuce, “held the office of aZilaχ,”lupuce, “passed away.” More important are the formative principles which the proper names display. Endings-a, -u, -eand-naare common in the “Nominative”—and in Etruscan there appears to be no distinction between this case and the Accusative—of men’s names; the endings-i, -ei, -nei, -niaand-uniaare among the commonest for women’s names. But no trace of gender has yet been observed in common nouns or adjectives. Nor is it always easy to distinguish a “Case” from a noun-stem. The women’s names corresponding to the men’s names in-uare sometimes-ui, sometimes-nei, sometimes longer forms (ves-acnei, besideves-u, hanuniafromhanu). And the so-called Genitives can themselves be inflected, as we have seen. The formneθunsl“of Neptune,” may even have swallowed up the nominatival-sof the ItalicNeptunus.

10. In view of the protracted discussion as to the numerals and the dice on which the first six are written, it should be added that only the following points are certain: (1) thatmaχ= one; (2) that the next five numbers are somehow represented byci, θu, huθ, saandzal; (3) and the next three somehow bycezp-, semφ-andmuv; (4) that the suffix-alχ-denotes the tens, or some of them,e.g.cealχ-besideci(? 50 and 5); (5) that the suffix-zor-sis multiplicative (es(a)lsfromzal). It is almost certain thatzalmust mean either 2 or 6, and of these a stronger case can, perhaps, be made for the latter meaning.Zathrumappears to be the corresponding ten (? 60). Skutsch’s article inIndogerm. Forschungen, v. p. 256, remains the best account.

In close connexion with the numerals on sepulchral inscriptions appear the wordsril, “old, aged,”avils, “annorum,” or “aetatis,” andtivr, “month” (fromtiv, “moon”).

11. Schulze has shown (e.g., p. 410) that a large number of familiar endings (e.g.those which when Latinized become-acius, -alius, -annius, -arius, -asius, -atius, -avus, -avius, -ax, and a similar series with-o-, -ocius, &c.), and further those with the elements,-lno-,-lino-, -enna, -eno-, -tern-, -turn-, -tric-, &c., exhibit different methods by whichnominawere built up frompraenominain Etruscan. Finally it is of considerable historical importance to observe that a great mass of thepraenominaused for this purpose are clearly of Italic origin,e.g.Helva, Barba, Vespa, Nero, Pedo, from all of which (and many more) there are derivatives which at one stage or other were certainly or probably Etruscan. It is this incorporation of Italic elements into the Etruscan nomenclature—itself a familiar and inevitable feature of the pirate-type of conquest and settlement, under which many women who bear and nurse and first name the children belong to the conquered race—that has entrapped so many scholars into the delusion that the language itself was Indo-European.

12. So far the language has been discussed without any reference to ethnology. But the facts stated above in regard to the extension of the language in space and time are clearly adverse to the hypothesis that it came into Italy from the north, and fully bear out Livy’s account (v. 33. 11) that the Etruscans of the Alpine valleys had been driven into that isolation by the invasion of the Gauls (beginning about 400B.C.). And the accumulating evidence of a connexion with Asia Minor (seee.g.above § 3) justifies confidence in the unbroken testimony of every Roman writer, which cannot but represent the traditions of the Etruscans themselves, and the evidence of similar traditions from the Asiatic side given by Herodotus (i. 97) to the effect that they came to Italy by sea from Lydia. Against this there has never been anything to set but the silence of “the Lydian historian Xanthus” (Dion. Hal. i. 28; cf. 30) who may have had many excellent reasons for it other than a disbelief of the tradition, and of whom in any case we know nothing save the vague commendation of Dionysius. And it is not merely the miscellanies of Athenaeus (e.g.xii. 519) but the unimpeachable testimony of the Umbrian Plautus (Cistellaria, 2. 3. 19), singularly neglected since Dennis’s day, that convicts the Etruscans of an institution practised by the Lydians and other non-Indo-European peoples of Asia Minor, but totally repugnant to all the peoples among whom the Etruscans moved in their western settlement. The reader may be referred to Dennis’s introductory chapter for a very serviceable collection of the other ancient testimony as to their origin. In the present state of our knowledge of the language it is best to disregard its apparent or alleged resemblances to various features of various Caucasian dialects pointed out by Thomsen (see above) and Pauli (Altit. Forsch.ii. 2, p. 147 ff.), and to acquiesce in Kretschmer’s (op. cit.p. 408)non liquetas to the particular people of Asia Minor from whom the Etruscans sprang. But meanwhile it is clear that such evidence as has been obtained by epigraphic and linguistic research is not in any sense hostile but distinctly favourable to the tradition of their origin which they themselves must have maintained.

Authorities.—Beside those mentioned in the text, see Professor F. Skutsch’s article “Etruskisch,” in the new current (1908) edition of Pauly-Wissowa’sEncyclopaedia; A. Torp’sEtruskische Beiträge, and other shorter writings; E. Lattes’sCorrezioni, giunte, postille al C. I. Etrusc.(Florence, 1904), and his most valuableIscriz. paleolatine di provenienza Etrusca(1895); Schaefer’s articles in Pauli’sAltitalische Studien(see above), and, with caution, Deecke’s revision of Müller’sEtrusker(Stuttgart, 1877). Some account of the relations of Etruscans with different Italic communities will be found in the relevant chapters of R.S. Conway’s edition of the remains ofThe Italic Dialects(1897). Newly discovered Etruscan inscriptions are regularly published in theNotizie degli scavi di antichità, the official Italian journal of excavations (published by theReale Accad. dei Lincei, but procurable separately). Fabretti’sCorpus Inscc. Italicarumwith its supplements was formerly useful, but in any doubtful reading its authority is worth little, and its commentary and glossary represent the epoch of Corssen. The regular contributions of Prof. Skutsch (under the general heading “Lateinische Sprache”) to Vollmer’sJahresbericht f. d. Fortschritte der romanischen Sprachwissenschaft; and of Prof. Herbig to Bursian’sJahresbericht über die Fortschritte der classischen Altertumswissenschaftwill both be of service. The present writer is indebted to both Professor Skutsch and Professor Torp for valuable guidance and instruction.

(R. S. C.)

1For Barnabei’s excavations see Fausto Benedetti,Gli Scavi di Narce ed il Museo di Villa Giulia(1900).2For a further discussion seead fin., sectionLanguage.3See Pauli,Altitalische Forschungen, vol. i.; also sect.Language(below).4Cf. the contents of the graves found by Boni in the Roman Forum (Notizie degli Scavi, 1902, 1903, 1905) with the objects represented in the plates of Montelius,La Civilisation primitive en Italie, pt. i. For the cemeteries at Novilara cf. Brizio,Monumenti antichi, vol. v.5τήν τε Ῥωμην αὐτὴν τῶν συγγραφἐων Τυρρηνίδα πόλιν εἶναι ὑπέλαβον, Dion. Hal. i. 29; but see sect.Languagefor meaning ofΤυρρηνία.6For the wars of the Greeks against the Carthaginians and the Etruscans see Busolt,Griechische Geschichte, ii. 218 ff.7Pliny (H.N.xxxvii. 11). He says that amber was brought by the Germans down the valley of the Po. Thence the trade-route crossed the Apennines to Pisa (Scylax inGeographi minores, ed. Didot, i. p. 25). In the consideration of problems suggested by amber it is too often forgotten that a very beautiful dark amber is found in Sicily.8Montelius,Civilization primitive en Italie, ii. pl. 265; cf. Petrie.Naukratis, i. pl. 20, fig. 15, and Perrot-Chipiez,Histoire de l’art, iii.9Monumenti dell’ Inst. Arch. Rom.x. pl. 31;Museo Etrusco Vaticano, i. pl. 63-69; cf.Annali dell’ Inst. Arch., 1896, p. 199 ff.10Vase with hieroglyphs found at Santa Marinella,Bollettino dell’ Inst. Arch., 1841, p. 111;Mon. antichi, viii. p. 88.11G. Dennis,Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.12Varroap.Serv.ad Aen.viii. 526; see Helbig,Bull. dell’ Inst. Arch.(1876), 227.13Censorinus,De Die Nat.17.14See Preller,Röm. Myth.s.v. “Volcanus.” Opposed to this see Wissowa,Religion u. Kultus der Römer, who seems to misinterpret the evidence.15Strabo v. 2. 39; cf. Livy i. 30; Dion. Hal. iii. 32.16Nigidius Figulusap.Arnob.adv.Nat. iii. 40; cf.Nig. Fig. reliquiae, ed. Ant. Swoboda (1888), p. 83.17Montelius,Civ. Prim. en Italie.18For an illustration of the Corneto tomb seeArchitecture, vol. ii. p. 559.19Appian viii. 66; Tertullian,De spect.5; Plutarch,Qu. Rom.107.20Dion. Hal. vii. 72.21Montelius,Civ. Prim.ii. pl. 172.22Ib.pl. 333; cf. 343.23Ib.pl. 166.24Ib.pl. 173.25Monum. Ant. xv. p. 151;Bull. d. Com. Arch. di Roma, 1898, p. 111.26Annali dell’ Inst. Arch., 1876, 230.27Gerhard,Etruskische Spiegel; Körte,Rilievi delle urne Etrusche.28See Pottier,Catalogue des vases antiques, II. L’École Ionienne, Boehlau,Aus ionischen und italischen Nekropolen; Karo,De arte vascularia antiquissima; Endt,Ionische Vasenmalerei. See furtherCeramics, § Etruscan.29Athen. i. 28.30Martha,L’Art étrusque, pl. I, 4;Bull. dell’ Inst.(1837) p. 46.31Plutarch,Camillus, 12.32Gerhard,Etr. Spiegel(continued by Klugmann and Körte).33Mirrors of Greek style, Gerhard, 111, 112, 116, 240, 305, 352; Klugmann-Körte, 107, 131, 160.34See plates in Martha and inMonumenti dell’ Inst., alsoMon. Ant.iv. and Milani’sStudie materiali.35Juvenal v. 164; Ovid,Am.iii. 13. 25 ff.36Pliny,H.N.xiv. 9; xvi. 216.37From the Polledrara tomb at Vulci, Martha fig. 335.38Coll. Tyszkiewicz, pl. 13.39Mon. dell’ Inst.vi. pl. 59, cf.Annali(1861), p. 402;Mon. Ant.viii. pl. xiii.-xiv.40Mon. dell’ Inst.viii. pl. 20; Martha p. 347.41Martha pp. 333, 348.42See Körte,Rilievi delle urne Etrusche.43SeeMon. dell’ Inst.i. pl. 32-33, v. 16, 17, 33, 34, vi. 30-32, 79, viii. 36, ix. 13-15; Micali,Mon. Ined.pl. 58. Cf. Helbig,Annali(1863) p. 336, (1870) pp. 5-74; Brunn,ib.(1866), p. 442.44Mommsen,Röm. Münzwesen; G.F. Hill,Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins; Deecke,Etruskische Forschungen; also articleNumismatics.

1For Barnabei’s excavations see Fausto Benedetti,Gli Scavi di Narce ed il Museo di Villa Giulia(1900).

2For a further discussion seead fin., sectionLanguage.

3See Pauli,Altitalische Forschungen, vol. i.; also sect.Language(below).

4Cf. the contents of the graves found by Boni in the Roman Forum (Notizie degli Scavi, 1902, 1903, 1905) with the objects represented in the plates of Montelius,La Civilisation primitive en Italie, pt. i. For the cemeteries at Novilara cf. Brizio,Monumenti antichi, vol. v.

5τήν τε Ῥωμην αὐτὴν τῶν συγγραφἐων Τυρρηνίδα πόλιν εἶναι ὑπέλαβον, Dion. Hal. i. 29; but see sect.Languagefor meaning ofΤυρρηνία.

6For the wars of the Greeks against the Carthaginians and the Etruscans see Busolt,Griechische Geschichte, ii. 218 ff.

7Pliny (H.N.xxxvii. 11). He says that amber was brought by the Germans down the valley of the Po. Thence the trade-route crossed the Apennines to Pisa (Scylax inGeographi minores, ed. Didot, i. p. 25). In the consideration of problems suggested by amber it is too often forgotten that a very beautiful dark amber is found in Sicily.

8Montelius,Civilization primitive en Italie, ii. pl. 265; cf. Petrie.Naukratis, i. pl. 20, fig. 15, and Perrot-Chipiez,Histoire de l’art, iii.

9Monumenti dell’ Inst. Arch. Rom.x. pl. 31;Museo Etrusco Vaticano, i. pl. 63-69; cf.Annali dell’ Inst. Arch., 1896, p. 199 ff.

10Vase with hieroglyphs found at Santa Marinella,Bollettino dell’ Inst. Arch., 1841, p. 111;Mon. antichi, viii. p. 88.

11G. Dennis,Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.

12Varroap.Serv.ad Aen.viii. 526; see Helbig,Bull. dell’ Inst. Arch.(1876), 227.

13Censorinus,De Die Nat.17.

14See Preller,Röm. Myth.s.v. “Volcanus.” Opposed to this see Wissowa,Religion u. Kultus der Römer, who seems to misinterpret the evidence.

15Strabo v. 2. 39; cf. Livy i. 30; Dion. Hal. iii. 32.

16Nigidius Figulusap.Arnob.adv.Nat. iii. 40; cf.Nig. Fig. reliquiae, ed. Ant. Swoboda (1888), p. 83.

17Montelius,Civ. Prim. en Italie.

18For an illustration of the Corneto tomb seeArchitecture, vol. ii. p. 559.

19Appian viii. 66; Tertullian,De spect.5; Plutarch,Qu. Rom.107.

20Dion. Hal. vii. 72.

21Montelius,Civ. Prim.ii. pl. 172.

22Ib.pl. 333; cf. 343.

23Ib.pl. 166.

24Ib.pl. 173.

25Monum. Ant. xv. p. 151;Bull. d. Com. Arch. di Roma, 1898, p. 111.

26Annali dell’ Inst. Arch., 1876, 230.

27Gerhard,Etruskische Spiegel; Körte,Rilievi delle urne Etrusche.

28See Pottier,Catalogue des vases antiques, II. L’École Ionienne, Boehlau,Aus ionischen und italischen Nekropolen; Karo,De arte vascularia antiquissima; Endt,Ionische Vasenmalerei. See furtherCeramics, § Etruscan.

29Athen. i. 28.

30Martha,L’Art étrusque, pl. I, 4;Bull. dell’ Inst.(1837) p. 46.

31Plutarch,Camillus, 12.

32Gerhard,Etr. Spiegel(continued by Klugmann and Körte).

33Mirrors of Greek style, Gerhard, 111, 112, 116, 240, 305, 352; Klugmann-Körte, 107, 131, 160.

34See plates in Martha and inMonumenti dell’ Inst., alsoMon. Ant.iv. and Milani’sStudie materiali.

35Juvenal v. 164; Ovid,Am.iii. 13. 25 ff.

36Pliny,H.N.xiv. 9; xvi. 216.

37From the Polledrara tomb at Vulci, Martha fig. 335.

38Coll. Tyszkiewicz, pl. 13.

39Mon. dell’ Inst.vi. pl. 59, cf.Annali(1861), p. 402;Mon. Ant.viii. pl. xiii.-xiv.

40Mon. dell’ Inst.viii. pl. 20; Martha p. 347.

41Martha pp. 333, 348.

42See Körte,Rilievi delle urne Etrusche.

43SeeMon. dell’ Inst.i. pl. 32-33, v. 16, 17, 33, 34, vi. 30-32, 79, viii. 36, ix. 13-15; Micali,Mon. Ined.pl. 58. Cf. Helbig,Annali(1863) p. 336, (1870) pp. 5-74; Brunn,ib.(1866), p. 442.

44Mommsen,Röm. Münzwesen; G.F. Hill,Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins; Deecke,Etruskische Forschungen; also articleNumismatics.

ETTENHEIM,a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Baden, pleasantly situated on the Ettenbach, under the western slope of the Black Forest, 7 m. E. from the Rhine by rail. Pop. (1900) 3106. It has a handsome Roman Catholic church, with ceiling frescoes, and containing the tomb of Cardinal Rohan, the last prince bishop of Strassburg, who resided here from 1790 till 1803; a Protestant church and a medieval town-hall.Its industries include the manufacture of tobacco, soap and leather, and there is a considerable trade in wine and agricultural produce. Founded in the 8th century by Eddo, bishop of Strassburg, Ettenheim remained attached to that see until 1802, when it passed to Baden. Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duke of Enghien (1772-1804), who had taken refuge here in 1801, was arrested in Ettenheim on the 15th of March 1804 and conveyed to Paris, where he was shot on the 20th of March following. The Benedictine abbey of Ettenheimmünster, which was founded in the 8th century and which was dissolved in 1803, occupied a site south of the town.

ETTINGSHAUSEN, CONSTANTIN,Baron von(1826-1897), Austrian geologist and botanist, was born in Vienna on the 16th of June 1826. He graduated as a doctor of medicine in Vienna, and became in 1854 professor of botany and natural history at the medical and surgical military academy in that city. In 1871 he was chosen professor of botany at Graz, a position which he occupied until the close of his life. He was distinguished for his researches on the Tertiary floras of various parts of Europe, and on the fossil floras of Australia and New Zealand. He died at Graz on the 1st of February 1897.

Publications.—Die Farnkräuter der Jetztwelt zur Untersuchung und Bestimmung der in den Formationen der Erdrinde eingeschlossenen Überreste von vorweltlichen Arten dieser Ordnung nach dem Flächen-Skelet bearbeitet(1865);Physiographie der Medicinal-Pflanzen(1862);A Monograph of the British Eocene Flora(with J. Starkie Gardner), Palaeontograph. Soc. vol. i. (Filices, 1879-1882).

ETTLINGEN,a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Baden, on the Alb, and the railway Mannheim-Basel, 4½ m. S. of Karlsruhe. Pop. (1905) 8040. It is still surrounded by old walls and ditches, and presents a medieval and picturesque appearance. Among its more striking edifices are an old princely residence, with extensive grounds, an Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, and the buildings of a former monastery. There are also many Roman remains, notable among them the “Neptune” sculpture, now embedded in the wall of the town-hall. Its chief manufactures are paper-making, spinning, weaving and machine building. The cultivation of wine and fruit is also largely carried on, and in these products considerable trade is done.

The first notice of Ettlingen dates from the 8th century. It became a town in 1227 and was presented by the emperor Frederick II. to the margrave of Baden. In 1689 it was pillaged by the French, and near the town Moreau defeated the archduke Charles on the 9th and 10th of July 1796.

See Schwarz,Geschichte der Stadt Ettlingen(Carlsruhe, 1900).

ETTMÜLLER, ERNST MORITZ LUDWIG(1802-1877), German philologist, was born at Gersdorf near Löbau, in Saxony, on the 5th of October 1802. He was privately educated by his father, the Protestant pastor of the village, entered the gymnasium at Zittau in 1816 and studied from 1823 to 1826 at the university of Leipzig. After a period of about two years during which he was partly abroad and partly at Gersdorf, he proceeded to Jena, where in 1830 he delivered, under the auspices of the university, a course of lectures on the old Norse poets. Three years later he was called to occupy the mastership of German language and literature at the Zürich gymnasium; and in 1863 he left the gymnasium for the university, with which he had been partially connected twenty years before. He died at Zürich in April 1877. To the study of English Ettmüller contributed by an alliterative translation of Beowulf (1840), an Anglo-Saxon chrestomathy entitledEngla and Seaxna scopas and boceras(1850), and a well-knownLexicon Anglo-Saxonicum(1851), in which the explanations and comments are given in Latin, but the words unfortunately are arranged according to their etymological affinity, and the letters according to phonetic relations. He edited a large number of High and Low German texts, and to the study of the Scandinavian literatures he contributed an edition of theVöluspa(1831), a translation of theLieder der Edda von den Nibelungen(1837) and an old Norse reading book and vocabulary. He was also the author of aHandbuch der deutschen Literaturgeschichte(1847), which includes the treatment of the Anglo-Saxon, the Old Scandinavian, and the Low German branches; and he popularized a great deal of literary information in hisHerbstabende und Winternächte: Gespräche über Dichtungen und Dichter(1865-1867). The alliterative versification which he admired in the old German poems he himself employed in hisDeutsche Stammkönige(1844) andDas verhängnissvolle Zahnweh, oder Karl der Grosse und der Heilige Goar(1852).

ETTMÜLLER, MICHAEL(1644-1683), German physician, was born at Leipzig on the 26th of May 1644, studied at his native place and at Wittenberg, and after travelling in Italy, France and England was recalled in 1668 to Leipzig, where he was admitted a member of the faculty of medicine in 1676. About the same time the university confided to him the chair of botany, and appointed him extraordinary professor of surgery and anatomy. He died on the 9th of March 1683, at Leipzig. He enjoyed a great reputation as a lecturer, and wrote many tracts on medical and chemical subjects. His collected works were published in 1708 by his son, Michael Ernst Ettmüller (1673-1732), who was successively professor of medicine (1702), anatomy and surgery (1706), physiology (1719) and pathology (1724) at Leipzig.

ETTRICK,a river and parish of Selkirkshire, Scotland. The river rises in Capel Fell (2223 ft.), a hill in the extreme S.W. of the shire, and flows in a north-easterly direction for 32 m. to its junction with the Tweed, its principal affluent being the Yarrow. In the parish of Ettrick were born James Hogg, the “Ettrick shepherd” (the site of the cottage being marked by a monument erected in 1898), Tibbie (Elizabeth) Shiel (1782-1878), keeper of the famous inn at the head of St Mary’s Loch, both of whom are buried in the churchyard, and Thomas Boston (1713-1767), one of the founders of the Relief church. About 2 m. below Ettrick church is Thirlestane Castle, the seat of Lord Napier and Ettrick, a descendant of the Napiers of Merchiston, and beside it is the ruin of the stronghold that belonged to John Scott of Thirlestane, to whom, in reward for his loyalty, James V. granted a sheaf of spears as a crest, and the motto, “Ready, aye ready.” Two miles up Rankle Burn, a right-hand tributary, lies the site of Buccleuch, another stronghold of the Scotts, which gave them the titles of earl (1619) and duke (1663). Only the merest fragment remains of Tushielaw tower, occupying high ground opposite the confluence of the Rankle and the Ettrick, the home of Adam Scott, “King of the Border,” who was executed for his misdeeds in 1530. Lower down the dale is Deloraine, recalling one of the leading characters inThe Lay of the Last Minstrel. If the name come from the Gaelicdail Orain, “Oran’s field,” the district was probably a scene of the labours of St Oran (d. 548), an Irish saint and friend of Columba. It seems that Sir Walter Scott’s rhythm has caused the accent wrongly to be laid on the last, instead of the penultimate syllable. Carterhaugh, a corruption of Carelhaugh, occupying the land where Ettrick and Yarrow meet, was the scene of the ballad of “Young Tamlane,” and of the historic football match in 1815, under the auspices of the duke of Buccleuch, between the burghers of Selkirk, championed by Walter Scott, sheriff of the Forest (not yet a baronet), and the men of Yarrow vale, championed by the Ettrick shepherd.

ETTY, WILLIAM(1787-1849), British painter, was born at York, on the 10th of March 1787. His father had been in early life a miller, but had finally established himself in the city of York as a baker of spice-bread. After some scanty instruction of the most elementary kind, the future painter, at the age of eleven and a half, left the paternal roof, and was bound apprentice in the printing-office of theHull Packet. Amid many trials and discouragements he completed his term of seven years’ servitude, and having in that period come by practice, at first surreptitious, though afterwards allowed by his master “in lawful hours,” to know his own powers, he removed to London.

The kindness of an elder brother and a wealthy uncle, William Etty, himself an artist, stood him in good stead. He commenced his training by copying without instruction from nature, models, prints, &c.—his first academy, as he himself says, being aplaster-cast shop in Cock Lane, Smithfield. Here he made a copy from an ancient cast of Cupid and Psyche, which was shown to Opie, and led to his being enrolled in 1807 as student of the Academy, whose schools were at that time conducted in Somerset House. Among his fellow scholars at this period of his career were some who in after years rose to eminence in their art, such as Wilkie, Haydon, Collins, Constable. His uncle generously paid the necessary fee of one hundred guineas, and in the summer of 1807 he was admitted to be a private pupil of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who was at the very acme of his fame. Etty himself always looked on this privilege as one of incalculable value, and till his latest day regarded Lawrence as one of the chief ornaments of British art. For some years after he quitted Sir Thomas’s studio, even as late as 1816, the influence of his preceptor was traceable in the mannerism of his works. Though he had by this time made great progress in his art, his career was still one of almost continual failure, hardly cheered by even a passing ray of success. In 1811, after repeated rejections, he had the satisfaction of seeing his “Telemachus rescuing Antiope” on the walls of the Academy. It was badly hung, however, and attracted little notice. For the next five years he persevered with quiet and constant energy in overcoming the disadvantages of his early training with yearly growing success, and he was even beginning to establish something like a name when in 1816 he resolved to improve his knowledge of art by a journey to Italy. After an absence of three months, however, he was compelled to return home without having penetrated farther south than Florence. Struggles and vexations still continued to harass him, but he bore up against them with patient endurance and force of will. In 1820 his “Coral-finders,” exhibited at the Royal Academy, attracted much attention, and its success was more than equalled by that of “Cleopatra’s arrival in Cilicia,” shown in the following year. In 1822 he again set out on a tour to Italy, taking Paris on his way, and astonishing his fellow-students at the Louvre by the rapidity and fidelity with which he copied from the old masters in that gallery. On arriving at Rome he immediately resumed his studies of the old masters, and elicited many expressions of wonder from his Italian fellow-artists for the same qualities which had gained the admiration of the French. Though Etty was duly impressed by the grandchefs-d’œuvreof Raphael and Michelangelo at Rome, he was not sorry to exchange that city for Venice, which he always regarded as the true home of art in Italy. His own style as a colourist held much more of the Venetian than of any other Italian school, and he admired his prototypes with a zeal and exclusiveness that sometimes bordered on extravagance.

Early in 1824 he returned home to find that honours long unjustly withheld were awaiting him. In that year he was made an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1828 he was promoted to the full dignity of an Academician. In the interval between these dates he had produced the “Combat (Woman interceding for the Vanquished),” and the first of the series of three pictures on the subject of Judith, both of which ultimately came into the possession of the Scottish Academy. Etty’s career was from this time one of slow but uninterrupted success. In 1830 he again crossed the channel with the view to another art tour through the continent; but he was overtaken in Paris by the insurrection of the Three Days, and was so much shocked by the sights he was compelled to witness in that time that he returned home with all convenient speed. During the next ten years of his life the zeal and unabated assiduity of his studies were not at all diminished. He was a constant attendant at the Academy Life School, where he used to work regularly along with the students, notwithstanding the remonstrances of some of his fellow-Academicians, who thought the practice undignified. The course of his studies was only interrupted by occasional visits to his native city, and to Scotland, where he was welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm, andfêtedwith the most gratifying heartiness by his brother-artists at Edinburgh. On the occasion of one of these visits he gave the finishing touches to his trio of Judiths. In 1840, and again in 1841, Etty undertook a pilgrimage to the Netherlands, to seek and examine for himself the masterpieces of Rubens in the churches and public galleries there. Two years later he once more visited France with a view to collecting materials for what he called “his last epic,” his famous picture of “Joan of Arc.” This subject, which would have tasked to the full even his great powers in the prime and vigour of manhood, proved almost too serious an undertaking for him in his old age. It exhibits, at least, amid great excellences, undeniable proofs of decay on the part of the painter; yet it brought a higher price than any of his earlier and more perfect works, £2500. In 1848, after completing this work, he retired to York, having realized a comfortable independence. One wish alone remained for him now to gratify; he desired to see a “gathering” of his pictures. With much difficulty and exertion he was enabled to assemble the great majority of them from various parts of the British Islands; and so numerous were they that the walls of the large hall he engaged in London for their exhibition were nearly covered. This took place in the summer of 1849; on the 13th of November of that same year he died. He received the honours of a public funeral in his native city.

Etty holds a secure place among English artists. His drawing was frequently incorrect, but in feeling and skill as a colourist he has few equals. His most conspicuous defects as a painter were the result of insufficient general culture and narrowness of sympathy.

Back to Index Next