. Tour to the sepulchres of Etruria, in 1839. nt to under-take the task of saving them from utter could not help wishing that the cardinal or bishopof Corneto were charged with the preservation ofthem as part of the duties of his see. We descended a flight of steps, and advanced bya short passage cut in the rock to the entrance ofthe tomb, a spacious chamber in which our flam-beaux only made darkness more visible. I shouldthink it about forty feet square, and the roof,which is low, is supported on four very massivesquare pillars, which rise without base from theground, and is orn
. Tour to the sepulchres of Etruria, in 1839. nt to under-take the task of saving them from utter could not help wishing that the cardinal or bishopof Corneto were charged with the preservation ofthem as part of the duties of his see. We descended a flight of steps, and advanced bya short passage cut in the rock to the entrance ofthe tomb, a spacious chamber in which our flam-beaux only made darkness more visible. I shouldthink it about forty feet square, and the roof,which is low, is supported on four very massivesquare pillars, which rise without base from theground, and is ornamented with that peculiar sort ofdecoration of which the best specimen is to be foundin the roof of the Pantheon at Home, i. e. a squaremedallion, with foliage in the centre. This doesnot cover the entire roof of the grotto, which appearsnever to have been finished ; some parts of it beingwithout any ornament, and also some portions of thesides having been rudely cut out of the living rock,and not having yet received the preparation of sand. TARQUINIA. 197 on which the paintings are elsewhere sketched. 1say sketched, for this is the proper term respectingthem, as they differ essentially from the colouredand more finished drawings of the other style, moreover, is light and free, rather be-tokening the meridian or the decline of art than itsrise. This circumstance, together with the unfi-nished state of the tomb, and the ornaments whichappear on the roof, would incline me to assign it aplace among the later tombs of Etruria, that is tosay, not earlier than the last of the Roman during the seventy years which have elapsedsince it was opened, so much has been done to defaceand spoil it, that it is very difficult to form an accu-rate opinion. The square pillars that support theroof are very rude, without base, and with a sort offillet round the top, beneath which are painted leavesin three colours, red, blue, and yellow. No sarcophagiremain in this tomb, but it
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidtourtose, booksubjecttombs
