The arts of the Etruscans are famous for the vases they produced. Etruria, in its ancient state, was one of the most powerful and civilized countries in Italy. Though the history of this nation is involved in obscurity, as the Romans tried every means in their power to destroy all its claims to refinement, yet there are sufficient proofs remaining of the height and perfection to which they carried the fine arts. Near the town of Civita Vecchia stood the ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinia, near which are found numbers of sepulchral grottoes, many of which are decorated with paintings and figures much in the style of those on the Etruscan vases. Some of the pictures represent combats, and others dances of females, executed with considerable spirit. The pottery before mentioned, however, affords the greatest number of their specimens of the art of design; the forms displayed in the contour of the vases, no less than the paintings with which they are decorated, show the wonderful attainment in elegance of design, purity of form, and ingenuity of delineation. The power over line, and the facility of execution they reached, may be easily conceived from the absorbent nature of the material upon which they wrought. No retouching was possible; but the whole must have been completely arranged in the mind of the artist before it could be struck off. Pliny states, that in his day, the town of Ardea, an ancient city of Etruria, contained some paintings which he ascribes to a period anterior to the founding of Rome, and mentions with surprise their then perfect state of preservation. At Lacurium also, he describes some pictures of Atalanta and Helen, which were simply painted on the wall, and exhibited great merit in execution. These Caligulo, after a fruitless attempt, failed in removing. Cere, another Etruscan city, boasted some paintings of an early date. All these specimens, although of remote date, have no positive clue by which to ascertain anything positive as to the origin of the art of painting. And we are obliged to turn to Greece for the foundation from whence sprung works still the admiration of the world. Religion was the motive of Greek art; it was, therefore, natural that they should endeavor to invest their own authors, for they considered themselves of divine origin, with the most perfect forms; and as man possessed that exclusively, they completely and thoroughly studied the elements of his constitution. The climate was favorable to the development of that form, and the establishment of exercises by their civil and political institutions, created models in nature, which elevated Greek art to the highest excellence.