The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-07
APOLLO STATUE IS THOUGHT WORK
 NOTED ETRLJSCAN
Unearthed Figure Repre- sents Best Terra
 Gotta Art

y It is now possible for the public to see the most remarkable of the Etrus- can life-sixe terra cotta statues recently found at Veil, near Rome. The>magni- ficent figure of Apollo is exhibited fin the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome, says Manchester Guardian.
 The discoveries were first made at the village of Isola, under the south wall of the ancient Etrusoan- city of Veil, some twenty-five miles northwest of Rome. A temple which, on architec- tural grounds, belonged to about the year 500, was found, but only the foundations remained a road had been constructed over it in Roman times. Near the temple were found the frag- ments of a group of terra cotta statutes which had all the appearancesof having been buried deliberately, perhaps be- cause of the respect in which the tenn ple statues were held by the destroyers of the temple. (veii was destroyed e96 B. C.)
 Fragments Of Three Figures
 as The fragments showed parts of three figures. One, complete except for its arms, part of the right thigh and the toes of each foot, represented a male figure sofne six feet in height draped in a Greek Ionic chiton and striding for ward. The right arm had been extended to the front. Of the other two figures ,i5art of a leg with, near it, the body of stag, was all that was left of one. Of the other the head, almost com plete, and part of the knees clearly be- f6ngsd, to judge from the headdress, to figure of Hermes. The flesh sur faces in each case were painted dark brown and the eyes were black.
 The fragments have been recon etructed by Professor Gigoli as asgroup Which came almost certainly from the sediment of the temple. Comparisons with vase paintings and, in particular, with the design embossed on Graeco- Etruscan helmet, show beyond doubt the group represented the dispute of Heracles and Apollo over stag which Heracles had stolen from the sacred herd of Apollo. The complete figure thus proves to be Apollo, who is strid- ing forward with an arm outstretehed to seize the stag, the body of which is seen at the feet of Heracles. Only a part of one leg of Heracles is preserved. Behind Heracles, coming to his aid. stands the figure of Hermes. In all probability that of Artemis stood te- hind Apollo.
 Workmanship Is Etruscan
 The group thus consisted of four fig ures with the center of interest Tn the very middle. Groups of this kind were common in Greek pedimental sculpture; thus the contest of Athena and Poseidon in the Parthenon pedi- ment or of. Heracles and the Hydra in an archaic pediment at Athens shows Che origin of this type of composition.
 To judge from the Hermes and the Apollo, however, the workmanship is essentially Etruscan, though the in spiration is Greek. The features and fhe molding of the bodies bear all the dement's of Etruscan style. Techni- cally the Apollo is of extreme skill and hetokens an artist of the first rank. The firing of terra cotta statues of this size was of extreme difficulty and was only achieved in the very best periods of Etruscan art. Greeks rarely at tempted terra cotta figures on a large scale. and there are none extant of the size of the Apollo. !. The Etruscan artist, of the second half of the sixth century B. O., was rroducing works which were essentially Greek in spirit and entirely Greek in subject. Etruscan work is only to be distinguished from Greek by its exag- xeration of certain clements, particu- iafly of the eyes and mouth, which sometimes are almost caricature or their Ionic Greek, prototypes.
 Work Of "A Master
 Y In the Apollo, however, we see what is almost certainly. the finest extant Etruscan terra eotta, in which the Etruscan exaggerations are very slight. The fine finish of,.the face and gar ments and the perfection of detail in- 6icate the work of an ,Etrusean master who. has studied his Greek originals with care and learnt his art, perhaps, in a Greek studio. Pliny, in his chapters on Modelling" tells us tho art of terra cotta statuary was developed in Italy, and particularly in Etruria, and that an artist of Veil called Vulca had I-ade the statue of Jupiter in the temple on the Capitoline as well as famous Hera7 cIes also at Rome. This Vulca lived, apparently, in the time of Tarquinius Euperbus, who ruled Rome in the sec ond half of the sixth century B.. o., the very period of which both the statues of Veil and the temple in which they were found belong.
 There seems to be little doubt that we have in the Apollo. and other frag- ments remains of the work of this fa- nous Etruscan artist.