Door Knocker with Neptune and Two Lions

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 16

Inventory

PV 09310

Material and technique

Bronze with high relief, natural dark patina, traces of opaque black lacquer

Author

Niccolò Roccatagliata (studio?)

Dating

Late 16th century (?)

Dimensions

38 x 26 x 9 cm.

Origin

Barsanti Collection (1934)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

Santangelo believed that this bronze was a variant of the knocker depicting Neptune and the Seahorses, variously attributed to either Alessandro Vittoria, his studio or an anonymous Venetian artist at the end of the 16th century. In the Palazzo Venezia version, a pair of frightful lions takes the place of the seahorses, placed either side of Neptune. The lions appear incongruous, though, next to the sea god and do not appear in other versions. Neptune’s body appears young and slightly built, in contrast to his aged facial appearance, characterized by a long, wavy beard and flowing hair. The beard has been carefully worked, in a style similar to that of Niccolò Roccatagliata and his son Stefano Nicolini, evident in the modelling of Jesus’ aged followers in the relief depicting the Allegory of the Redemption (1636) in the church of San Moisè in Venice. In this work, Roccatagliata arranges the eighteen old followers around Christ’s tomb, which is supported by a crowd of cherubs.

Pietro Cannata

Bibliography

L. Pollak, Raccolta Alfredo Barsanti (Trecento-Settecento), catalogue of the collection, Bergamo 1922, no. 83, p. 122, pl. XXXVII; A. Santangelo, Museo di Palazzo Venezia. Catalogo delle sculture, Rome 1954, p. 45, fig. 35