Italy on Tuesday put on display one of the best known examples of Etruscan painting, panels from a tomb that it acquired for $17 million in the Culture Ministry’s buying spree of big-ticket pieces of the country’s cultural heritage.
The ministry announced in May that it had acquired the fresco panels, dating from the 4th century, from members of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’s ancient noble families whose vast collection of antiquity has long been kept out of the public domain.
The Francois Tomb was discovered in 1857 by the French archaeologist Alessandro Francois in Vulci, on land owned by the Torlonia family.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.













