A BRONZE AND MULTICOLOURED MARBLE MODEL OF THE FONTANA DEGLI TARTARUGHE

AFTER GIACOMO DELLA PORTA, CIRCA 1870

Details

A BRONZE AND MULTICOLOURED MARBLE MODEL OF THE FONTANA DEGLI TARTARUGHE
AFTER GIACOMO DELLA PORTA, CIRCA 1870
Surmounted by a shallow circular dish with four tortoises drinking from it, held aloft by four youthful tritons, each with one foot on the head of a dolphin, with four secondary basins all above a further marble basin.
Medium brown patina; the marble basin fitted with light fixtures, possibly associated; elements of the moulding to the marble basin lacking; very minor chips.
42 in. (108.6 cm.) high, overall

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Pope-Hennessy, Italian High Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture, London and New York, 1970, pp. 120-121, 420, fig. 169.

Lot Essay

The present piece is based on the Fontana delle Tartarughe in the Piazza Mattei in Rome. It was commissioned in 1581 by the Diputati sopra le Fontane, with Giacomo della Porta responsible for the design and Taddeo Landini for some of the execution, at least the figures. The turtles, from which the name of the fountain derives, were added in 1658 (op. cit., p. 420).

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