Close detail of bronze faun with horned head by 1500s Flemish sculptor known as Giambologna on Fontana del Nettuno or Fountain of Neptune in Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The faun sits on the rim of the basin surrounding a colossal marble statue of the Roman sea god, together with tritons, satyrs, sea nymphs and marine deities. The Mannerist fountain was commissioned in 1559 by Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Giambologna, also known as Giovanni da Bologna, was based in Italy and celebrated there for his statuary in both marble and bronze.
Florence, Tuscany, Italy: close detail of bronze faun with horned head sculpted in the 16th century by the Flemish artist known as Giambologna for the Fountain of Neptune (Fontana del Nettuno) or Fonte di Piazza in Piazza della Signoria, before the Palazzo Vecchio. The faun, half man and half goat, sits on the rim of the basin surrounding the colossal marble statue of the Roman sea god Neptune, together with marine deities and other mythological figures such as tritons, satyrs and sea nymphs. The fountain was commissioned in 1559 by Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to celebrate Florence’s dominance of the seas, the marriage of his son Francesco to Grand Duchess Joanna of Austria and his gift of clean water to the city. It is in the Mannerist or Late Renaissance style and was the work of various artists, including initial designer, Baccio Bandinelli, architect and sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati and Giambologna. The construction lasted from 1560 to 1575. Giambologna (1529-1608), also known as Giovanni da Bologna and Jean de Boulogne, was a Flemish sculptor based in Italy and celebrated there for his statuary in both marble and bronze. He settled in Florence in 1553 and became a leading court sculptor – so vital to the ruling Medici dynasty that they would not allow him to leave the city in case he was enticed to work for either the Austrian or Spanish Hapsburgs instead. He died in Florence aged 79 and is buried in the Santissima Annunziata basilica. Giambologna’s other most famous work is the Rape of the Sabine Women, sculpted from a single piece of marble and now displayed in the Loggia dei Lanzi, also in Piazza della Signoria, as is his depiction of Samson Slaying a Philistine. Giambologna also created a colossal bronze Neptune statue and subsidiary figures for the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna.
Size: 2734px × 4108px
Location: Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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