Triton Holding a Shield
- Object belonging
- One's own
- Category
- Terracotta sculpture
- City
- Rome
- Location
- Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
- Specific location
- Room 21
- Inventory
- PV 04258
- Material and technique
- Terracotta/ patina
- Author
- Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686)
- Dating
- 1676-1682
- Dimensions
- 40.5x17.5 cm.
- Origin
- Ettore Sestieri (1922)
- Image copyright
- SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma
Short description
In 1677, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, by then quite old, became involved with the renowned project for the Fountain of Portugal, commissioned by Don Luís de Meneses, the third count of Ericeira, for the garden of his palace in the hills of Lisbon, now the Palácio Nacional de Queluz. Bernini decided not to particpate directly, taking on a more amenable role as director of works, and the models and sculptures were entrusted to Ercole Ferrata. It is very probable that Ferrata realized models for at least some of the statues: amongst these, as recorded in the detailed inventory of the studio in Via delle Carceri Nuove, was “a clay figure of Triton” (V. Golzio, “Lo ‘Studio' di Ercole Ferrata”, Archivi d'Italia, II, 1935, p. 66) that can be identified, almost certainly, with the terracotta now kept at Palazzo Venezia. Triton stands on a narrow pedestal, which goes up to the height of his knee, and lifts with his left arm a scroll with space for the crest, which would only be included in the final version. During restoration in 1970, the right arm was removed since it was not original; photographs from before 1970 recorded the figure standing holding a whelk, also now removed, from where water spurted.
Cristiano Giometti
