Fontana del Tritone (''Triton Fountain'') is a seventeenth-century fountain in Rome, by the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

sculptor

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italians, Italian sculptor and Italian architect, architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prom ...

. Commissioned by his patron, Pope

Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

, the fountain is located in the

Piazza Barberini Piazza Barberini is a large piazza in the ''centro storico'' or city center of Rome, Italy and situated on the Quirinal Hill. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt. History The s ...

, near the entrance to the

Palazzo Barberini The Palazzo Barberini () is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome. History Around 1549 Cardinal ...

(which now houses the

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica or National Gallery of Ancient Art is an art museum in Rome, Italy. It is the principal national collection of older paintings in Rome – mostly from before 1800; it does not hold any antiquities. It has two s ...

) that Bernini helped to design and construct for the

Barberini The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban pal ...

, Urban's family. This fountain should be distinguished from the nearby ''Fontana dei Tritoni'' (Fountain of the Tritons) by

Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri (13 April 1655 Rome - 11 February 1721 Rome) was an Italian architect. He worked in a Baroque and early Rococo style.Nina A. Mallory, ''Carlo Francesco Bizzacheri (1655-1721)'', in: Journal of the Society of Architectu ...

Piazza Bocca della Verità Piazza Bocca della Verità (Italian: ''Square of the Mouth of Truth'') is a square between Via Luigi Petroselli and Via della Greca in Rome (Italy), in the rione Ripa. The square lies in the ancient area of the Forum Boarium, the cattle market ...

which features two Tritons.

Description

The

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

was executed in

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

in 1642–43. Pope Urban VIII wanted a public ornament for the city and also a utility service to place in the center of the square dominated by his family's brand-new palace."The Triton Fountain", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
/ref> At its centre rises a larger than lifesize muscular

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

, a minor sea god of ancient Greco-Roman legend, depicted as a

merman A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mer ...

kneeling on a large shell, from which the Triton rises. His head is thrown back and his arms raise a

conch Conch ( , , ) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high Spire (mollusc), spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point on both ...

to his lips; from it a jet of water spurts, formerly rising dramatically higher than it does today. The fountain has a base of four

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

s that entwine the

papal tiara The papal tiara is a crown that was worn by popes of the Catholic Church from as early as the 8th century to the mid–20th century. It was last used by Pope Paul VI in 1963, and only at the beginning of his reign. The name ''tiara'' refers t ...

with crossed keys and the heraldic

bees in their scaly tails. The ''Tritone'', the first of Bernini's free-standing urban fountains, was erected to provide water from the

Acqua Felice The Acqua Felice is one of the aqueducts of Rome, completed in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V, whose birth name, which he never fully abandoned, was Felice Peretti. The first new aqueduct of early modern Rome, its source is at the springs at Pantano Borg ...

aqueduct which Urban had restored. It was Bernini's last major commission from his great patron who died in 1644. At the Triton Fountain, Urban and Bernini brought the idea of a sculptural fountain, familiar from

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

gardens, decisively to a public urban setting for the first time; previous public fountains in the city of Rome had been passive basins for the reception of public water. Bernini has represented the triton to illustrate the triumphant passage from

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' book I, evoking godlike control over the waters and describing the draining away of the Universal Deluge. The passage that Urban set Bernini to illustrate, was well known to all literate Roman contemporaries: :''Already Triton, at his call, appears'' :''Above the waves; a Tyrian robe he wears;'' :''And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears.'' :''The sovereign bids him peaceful sounds inspire,'' :''And give the waves the signal to retire.'' :''His writhen shell he takes; whose narrow vent'' :''Grows by degrees into a large extent,'' :''Then gives it breath; the blast with doubling sound,'' :''Runs the wide circuit of the world around:'' :''The sun first heard it, in his early east,'' :''And met the rattling echoes in the west.'' :''The waters, list'ning to the trumpet's roar,'' :''Obey the summons, and forsake the shore.'' :::—free translation by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al.. The following year, Bernini sculpted the

Fontana delle Api Fontana delle Api (''Fountain of the Bees'') is a fountain located in the Piazza Barberini in Rome where the Via Veneto enters the piazza. It was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and completed in April 1644. History Within months of the completi ...

(Fountain of the Bees), a watering trough where the Via Veneto enters the Piazza Barberini. Both fountains were constructed around the time of the First War of Castro. Matthew K. Averett sees a political statement in their construction: as Urban restoring peace after an unfortunate but necessary conflict.Averett, Matthew Knox. "'Redditus Orbis Erat': The Political Rhetoric of Bernini’s Fountains in Piazza Barberini", ''The Sixteenth Century Journal'', vol. 45, no. 1, 2014, pp. 3–24. JSTOR
/ref>

Subsequent history

The Triton Fountain is one of those evoked in

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions ra ...

's ''

Fontane di Roma This is a list of the notable fountains in Rome, Italy. Rome has fifty monumental fountains and hundreds of smaller fountains, over 2000 fountains in all, more than any other city in the world. History For more than two thousand years foun ...

''. The legend applied to

Trevi Fountain The Trevi Fountain () is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi (rione of Rome), Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762 and several others. Standing high and wide, it i ...

has been extended to this: that any visitor who throws a coin into the water (while facing away from the fountain) will have guaranteed their return to Rome. The setting of the Piazza Barberini has changed significantly since the seventeenth century. Engravings of the time and photographs from the nineteenth century show much lower buildings around the piazza, which would have made the fountain much more dramatic. However, it is a tribute to the artistic judgement of Bernini that even now, with tall buildings around the traffic-ridden piazza, the Triton Fountain can still maintain a dramatic presence.

Notes

References

External links

Web Gallery of Art:
image and description
Bernini bozzetti: Detroit Institute of Art
* {{Authority control 1643 works 1640s sculptures Fountains in Rome Marble sculptures in Italy Sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini Rome R. II Trevi Sculptures of Triton (mythology) Sculptures of insects Sculptures of dolphins Sculptures of seashells Animal sculptures in Rome Fountains of deities

Description

Subsequent history

See also

Notes

References

External links