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拍品專文
This impressive figure of Neptune is depicted at the moment described in Virgil's Aeneid, when the god of the sea calms the waves which had been created by Juno to sink the fleeing boats of Aeneas and the defeated Trojans after the sack of Troy. It would no doubt once have been the crowning figure in a large fountain. As such, it forms part of a tradition of complex sculptural programmes designed for the gardens of wealthy Italian families from the 16th century onwards.
Perhaps the most obvious comparison to this figure is Bernini's group of the same subject which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Originally designed for the gardens of the Villa Montalto in 1623, Bernini's group displays the same twisted torso and splayed legs. Bernini was not alone in his love for this subject, however. As Charles Avery points out in his recent monograph (op. cit., p. 180), Stoldo Lorenzi had already executed a bronze fountain figure of Neptune in a very similar stance as early as the 1560s. More significantly, another Neptune figure designed by Francesco Fanelli (active from circa 1609), and known to us today through engravings, shows the god with the upper torso twisted to the left, with drapery looped over the arms in an almost identical fashion, and standing astride a dolphin as here. Although the present figure is less overtly baroque in its overall composition, it betrays a knowledge of trends in Italian sculpture in the first half of the 17th century in general, and specifically of the work of Fanelli, who was active in both Italy and England.
Perhaps the most obvious comparison to this figure is Bernini's group of the same subject which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Originally designed for the gardens of the Villa Montalto in 1623, Bernini's group displays the same twisted torso and splayed legs. Bernini was not alone in his love for this subject, however. As Charles Avery points out in his recent monograph (op. cit., p. 180), Stoldo Lorenzi had already executed a bronze fountain figure of Neptune in a very similar stance as early as the 1560s. More significantly, another Neptune figure designed by Francesco Fanelli (active from circa 1609), and known to us today through engravings, shows the god with the upper torso twisted to the left, with drapery looped over the arms in an almost identical fashion, and standing astride a dolphin as here. Although the present figure is less overtly baroque in its overall composition, it betrays a knowledge of trends in Italian sculpture in the first half of the 17th century in general, and specifically of the work of Fanelli, who was active in both Italy and England.