In classical mythology Neptune ruled over the seas and its inhabitants. His son Triton was half man, half fish (a merman). Neptune and Triton are portrayed with great vitality as they command the seas, which we are to imagine around the base of the group. This impressive group appropriately originally surmounted a fountain, and water flowed from the conch shell blown by Triton.
The group was commissioned from the great Italian sculptor Bernini by Alessandro Peretti, Cardinal Montalto, for the garden of the Villa Montalto in Rome. The work received widespread critical acclaim and was one of the most celebrated sights in the Eternal City during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It remained in the Montalto garden until 1786, when it was sold to the British art dealer, Thomas Jenkins. It was later purchased by the painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, in whose possession it remained during his lifetime. Later it was sold to Charles Pelham, first Lord Yarborough, and initially placed in the garden of Walpole House, in Chelsea. It was later at Lord Yarborough’s country estate, Brocklesby Park, in Lincolnshire, before arriving in the Museum in 1950.
Physical description
Neptune stands on a shell in the act of thrusting downwards a trident held to his right. The figure is nude save for a cloak. His weight is thrown forward on to the right leg, and the left foot rests on the further edge of the shell. Triton is below, between the legs of Neptune, blowing on a conch- shell.
Place of Origin
Rome, Italy (made)
Date
ca. 1620-1622 (sculpted)
Artist/maker
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, born 1598 - died 1680 (sculptor)
Materials and Techniques
Marble and copper
Dimensions
Height: 182.2 cm
Object history note
Purchased in England with the Assistance of the National Art-Collections Fund (Earl of Yarborough, £15.000).
The group was commissioned from the great Italian sculptor Bernini by Alessandro Peretti, Cardinal Montalto, for the garden of the Villa Montalto in Rome. The work received widespread critical acclaim and was one of the most celebrated sights in the Eternal City during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It remained in the Montalto garden until 1786, when it was sold to the British art dealer, Thomas Jenkins. It was later purchased by the painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, in whose possession it remained during his lifetime. Later it was sold to Charles Pelham, first Lord Yarborough, and initially placed in the garden of Walpole House, in Chelsea. It was later at Lord Yarborough’s country estate, Brocklesby Park, in Lincolnshire, before arriving in the Museum in 1950.
Descriptive line
Group, marble, Neptune and Triton, by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, Italy (Rome), ca. 1622
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Williamson, Paul, ed. European Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. pp. 132-133
Wittkower, R. Gian Lorenzo Bernini - The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Oxford, 1981, pp. 3, 4, 28, cat.no. 9, pp. 177-178
Holderbaum, James. The Sculptor Giovanni Bologna, Phd 1959, Harvard University, published New York and London, 1983, pp. 69-70, plate XXXIII, figs. 76&77
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume II: Text. Sixteenth to Twentieth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, pp. 596-600, cat. no. 637
Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art Bulletin. Vol. L, 1968, p. 103
Levey, M. Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven, 1993, p. 103
Bacchi, Andrea. Scultura del '600 a Roma, Milan, 1996, illus.no. 109, 110 and p. 778
Avery, Charles. Bernini: Genius of the Baroque, London, 1997, pp. 180-2, illus. 242, 248
Wittkower, R. Sculpture. Process and Principles . London, 1977, fig. 3 on p. 170 and p. 169
Avery, Charles, 'Neptune and Triton in the Victoria and Albert Museum:"Reckon Bernini's greatest work"', Sculpture Journal, 19.2 (2010), pp. 223-228
Materials
Copper; Marble
Subjects depicted
Shells; Neptune; Trident; Triton
Categories
Sculpture; Myths & Legends
Collection code
SCP
