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 Felice
The 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.