Eline Verburg MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Archeology, Museums & Collections, Etruscology

Cohort/Start PhD: 2021-2022

Etruscans for All. The perception and reception of the Etruscans in 18th- and 19th-century Northwestern Europe

University of Amsterdam
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Marijke Gnade, Dr. M.H.E. Mirjam Hoijtink

In her multidisciplinary research, Eline dives into the reception history of the Etruscans in Northwestern Europe. Until the 18^th century, interest in the Etruscans was a local, Italian phenomenon. In the 19^th century, however, when interest increased in transalpine countries, Etruscan collections were purchased by (national) museums in Northwestern-Europe. Possible reasons for this interest in the Etruscans include the 19^th-century discoveries of Etruscan necropolises, the evidence of an Etruscan language, the mystery around their non-Indo-European origins and the eminent status of Etruscan women. This comparative research will investigate why this interest in the Etruscans emerged in the late 18^th and 19^th centuries by studying the earliest Etruscan museumcollections of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London and the Antikensammlung in Berlin.

Why does this profound international interest in Etruscan material culture stand in contrast to the marginal position it has been given in dominant historiographical narratives? By studying the earliest Etruscan museumcollections in Northwestern Europe and the reception of the Etruscans, this study aims to shed light on the inclusion and exclusion of past cultures in the Romantic reception history of antiquity in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.