Triton Fountain (Fontana del Tritone)

Four dolphins whose tails are directed upwards to hold an open shell on which a newt plays a conch shell. It was made by the artist in 1643, thus making his debut in a field in which he would prove his great talent and originality. Until the end of the 18th century, a macabre spectacle took place in front of this fountain: the corpses of unknown persons were exposed and a town crier invited the population to identify the bodies.

The Fontana del Tritone is said to be one of the first works of art and the first fountain
be Bernini. Four fish (dolphins?) carry two scallops on their tails
in which the sea god Triton sits. Diagonally opposite the Fontana del Tritone, on the corner with Via
Vittoria Veneto, stands the Fontana delle Api. This small fountain, also by Bernini, dates back
from the 17th century and was built on the occasion of the 22nd year of the Pope's pontificate
Urban XIII. The bees (api in Italian) are the symbol of the Barberini family. The shell
indicates life and fertility, a symbol that Bernini often used.

Begun and completed between the end of 1642 and the first half of 1643, the Triton fountain in Piazza Barberini is one of the masterpieces of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680).Author: Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Dating: 1642-1643
Materials: travertine
Original power supply: Acquedotto FeliceThe artist was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623-1644) to create the work as a "public ornament of the city" in the center of the square dominated by his family's new palace.Represented on the valves of an enormous shell, with the erect torso and scaly legs of a sea monster, the Triton stands imposingly with his head bent back in an effort to blow into the large buccina (or twisted shell) which he supports with his arms raised upwards and from which copious water pours out, which irrigates the whole work. Expression of the new Baroque conception of space, in the fountain the sculptural part includes and completely absorbs the same architectural structure: the shell on which the triton rests constitutes in fact the upper basin of the fountain, and the balustrade at the base is replaced by four dolphins with intertwined tails , among which are the papal coats of arms with bees, the heraldic symbol of the Barberini family.