The original sculpture was made for a fountain for the Medici Villa at Careggi by Andrea del Verocchio in 1465. Vasari (1568) records that Grand Duke Cosimo I de'Medici of Tuscany (1519-74) brought this figure to Florence and had it set up on a new fountain in the first courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio. The original fountain included three bronze heads and four marble lion heads, while the replacement, designed by Vasari, was of porphyry and marble. In 1959, the Putto with a Fish was replaced by a bronze copy, and is now displayed inside the Palazzo Vecchio.


The cast is displayed in one of the two magnificent Cast Courts at the V&A. Since they were first opened in 1873, these galleries have displayed reproductions of some of the most significant monuments of medieval and Renaissance Europe. In these galleries one can view plaster casts of sculptures from Renaissance Italy, notably some of the masterpieces produced by Donatello, Luca della Robbia and Michelangelo.
The sculptures are faithful copies of the originals. They were made in the 19th century, when the vogue for replicated works of art was at its height. Museum visitors at that time generally had little opportunity to travel abroad, and illustrated art books were costly. These superb casts could afford people a rare glimpse of the original sculptures, even if they could not visit Florence or Rome. Artists and designers then and now could likewise sketch and learn from them. The painted surfaces of these reproductions often mirror the original stone or bronze, and the casts seem convincingly monumental. But they are made of plaster, a relatively fragile material.