Todd Lehman was an aficionado of Etruscan history and culture. After a visit to Volterra, Italy, which was a main center of Etruscan civilization, he was inspired to do many paintings. He was especially taken by the artifacts in the Etruscan Museum in Volterra. This painting is oil, gold leaf, and sand on canvas. You will note the use of sand in the grayish horizontal band near the bottom of the painting. Lehman liked to combine sand with oil paint to give a rougher texture, and in this case to simulate the feel of Etruscan expert stone work in their walls. The Etruscans were also masters in crafting gold. The blackish square in the middle of the painting near the bottom has an underlay of gold-leaf squares. Lehman painted black over the gold leaf then scratched thin lines through the paint to allow threads of the gold leaf to show through.
