Etruscan Art - Great Haruspice - Archaeological Souvenir - Grand Tour - Anticomania - 19th Century

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Haruspice holding a snake 
Bronze with excavation patina
probably Italian workshop
Second half of the 19th century
H. 45 cm.

This bronze is superb for its finesse and its stretched treatment. The haruspice stands on a four-legged base. Its spindly body is synthetically depicted, with slight details of the feet and face in particular. It is a remake of a well-known model housed at the Getty.

The role of the Haruspice in Etruscan society
The haruspices of Etruria were distinguished from the rest of the population by their costume: they wore a short coat edged with fringes (similar to the skin of the sacrificed beast), rather than the Etruscan toga, fastened by a fibula at the neck, and a broad-brimmed headdress with a pointed top, tied under the chin because it was a very bad omen if it fell off during the ceremonies and, above all, they wore their libri (as can be seen on the figurative sarcophagi of deceased haruspices). It seems that they were recruited from the upper classes of society.
Among the Etruscans, the "lightning haruspices" practised their divinatory art, called brontoscopy, on lightning and thunder.
They continued to play an important advisory role even after Etruria was annexed by the Romans.

Condition report: excellent