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A design for a fountain

Drawing
ca. 1652-1653 (made)
Artist/Maker
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo (artist)
Place of origin
Rome (made)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the central figure of the Italian Baroque. This drawing appears to be a design for the fountain of Neptune for the Ducal palace at Sassuolo, near Modena. The figure of Neptune, holding a dolphin, balances on an arched rock. The fountain is still in situ, framed in a niche as shown in the drawing.

Object details

Categories
Designs
Drawings
Object type
Drawing
TitleA design for a fountain
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink and wash
Pen and Ink
Wash
Brief description
Bernini, Design for a fountain incorporating a figure of Neptune
Physical description
Design for a fountain with Neptune balancing on an arched rock, wrestling with a stylised dolphin.
Dimensions
  • Height: 40.6cm
  • Width: 27.3cm
Style
Roman
Credit line
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides
Object history
Bequeathed by C.A. Ionides, 1900
Subjects depicted
Wrestling
Dolphin (Animal)
Fountains
Rock
Neptune
Place depicted
Sassuolo, Near Modena
Summary
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the central figure of the Italian Baroque. This drawing appears to be a design for the fountain of Neptune for the Ducal palace at Sassuolo, near Modena. The figure of Neptune, holding a dolphin, balances on an arched rock. The fountain is still in situ, framed in a niche as shown in the drawing.
Bibliographic references
  • Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings, Volume Two: 17th-18th Century , London, 1979, pp. 20-22, cat. n. 628, illus. The following is the full text of the entry: BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO (1598-1680) 628 Design for a fountain: a water god seated on a rock holding a dolphin, before an arched niche On the back in ink an attribution to Gaulli and the inscription 'bought at Reveley's sale 11 May 1852' Pen and ink and wash 16 x 10 3/4 (406 x 273) CAI.416 PROVENANCE Earl Spencer (Lugt 1532); H. Reveley (sale, Christie, 11 May 1852); Ionides Bequest 1901 (Lugt 488) LITERATURE Ionides Catalogue, p. 11 (as by Giovanni Battista GaulIi); H. Voss, 'Berninis Fontanen' in Prussian Jahrbuch, 31, 1910, p. 114; Brauer and Wittkower, I, p. 53; and 2, pl. 159a; R. Wittkower, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, 2nd ed., 1966, p. 267, no. 80(5), fig. 124. The drawing appears to be a design for the fountain of Neptune which Ercole Antonio Raggi, Bernini's assistant, made for the ducal palace at Sassuolo, near Modena. The fountain is still in situ, framed in a niche, as in the drawing, in the courtyard opposite the main entrance of the palace. There is a terracotta model for it, attributed to Raggi, in the Estense Gallery, Modena. The same design is shown in a drawing in black chalk at one time in the Marquis de Talleyrand's collection (Brauer and Wittkower, 2, pl. 34)• Brauer and Wittkower ascribed the Talleyrand drawing to Bernini himself, but our drawing to his school. Wittkower subsequently changed his mind and attributed our drawing to Bernini himself, as stated in the monograph quoted. Some letters in the Archivio di Stato in Modena, written between August 1652 and March 1653, show that Bernini submitted two drawings of a fountain to the Duke of Modena and that the Duke approved of the designs. There is a short account of the correspondence in S. Fraschetti, Il Bernini, Milan, 1900, p. 229.
  • pp. 246-7 Edited by Michael W. Cole ; with essays by Michael W. Cole, Davide Gasparotto, Alina Payne ... [et al.] ; [curated by Oliver Tostmann and Michael W. Cole]. Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini : sculptors' drawings from Renaissance Italy Boston : Isabella tewart Gardner Museum ; London : Paul Holberton, 2014. ISBN: 9781907372704.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
CAI.416

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Record createdMarch 28, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O148450/a-design-for-a-fountain-drawing-bernini-gian-lorenzo/
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