Triton Fountain (Rome)

The Triton Fountain in Rome today

The Triton Fountain ( Italian Fontana del Tritone ) in Rome is a 1642 to 1643 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini created fountains of the High Baroque .

The fountain is located in the middle of Piazza Barberini in the old town near the Palazzo Barberini . It was a commissioned work that followed the redesign of the square (also by Bernini). The client was his patron Pope Urban VIII.

description

The fountain, carved from Roman travertine from Tivoli , consists of four dolphins that form the pedestal and carry two wide-open clamshell halves on their caudal fins. In these shell halves is seated an excessive muscular Triton consisting of a conch a fountain spouts upwards. The tiara , the key of Peter and the coat of arms of the Barberini are arranged between the dolphins .

Others

The well naturally served to supply the population with water. It was fed by the Acqua Felice aqueduct , which Pope Urban VIII had restored. The work was the first fountain created by Bernini himself and at the same time his last major commission for this Pope. The small bee fountain ( Fontana delle Api , 1644), also by Bernini, is located on the north side of the square.

Until the end of the 18th century, unknown corpses were presented here so that the residents could identify them.

The Triton Fountain in Nuremberg ( 1689 )

Other triton fountains from the Renaissance and Baroque periods

The representation of tritons was extremely common in the design of fountains in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, there are countless fountains in Europe with the representation of this mythological figure. A similar triton fountain, by Carlo Bizzaccheri , is in Rome in Piazza Bocca della Verità. Further "Triton Fountains" are in

Triton Fountain (Aachen)
Triton Fountain (Düsseldorf)
Mannheim ( water tower )
Triton Fountain (Nuremberg)
Salzburg (upper part of the Residenzbrunnen)
Valletta in Malta
Triton Fountain (Nysa)

literature

Heinz-Joachim Fischer : Rome. Two and a half millennia of history, art and culture of the Eternal City. Cologne: DuMont-Buchverlag 2001, ISBN 3-7701-5607-2 .
Anton Henze, Art Guide Rome , Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam 1994, ISBN 3-15-010402-5