Vel Saties and Arnza (François Tomb)

When a Roman general celebrated a triumph, he rode through the city in a purple toga embroidered with gold, the toga picta, and ancient writers said that such regalia had first come to Rome from the Etruscans. In the tomb his family had painted at Vulci between 340 and 320 BC, Vel Saties wears something very like it, a deep purple robe covered with small dancing figures, and a wreath on his head. The painting is often taken as an early picture of the toga picta, although the British classicist Mary Beard is among those who note that its straight edges look more like a Greek-style cloak.

Vel Saties founded this tomb and paid for its decoration, and this is his portrait. Beside him stands a far smaller figure labelled Arnza, a name meaning little Arnth, a servant boy or perhaps a dwarf, holding a bird on a string. The scene is usually read as the taking of the auspices, watching a bird's flight for signs of the gods' will.