Study for a Triton (recto); Anatomical Studies (?) (verso), 1642–44
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, 1598–1680)
Drawing in red chalk, background tinted with an almost imperceptible pale brown wash, framing lines in pen and brown ink (recto); black chalk (verso); 14 5/16 x 9 5/8 in. (36.4 x 24.5 cm)
Annotated in pen and brown ink at lower right of recto: G. L. Bernini; at upper center of verso: Lorenzo Bernini
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1973 (1973.265)
Technical Glossary
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, 1598–1680)
Drawing in red chalk, background tinted with an almost imperceptible pale brown wash, framing lines in pen and brown ink (recto); black chalk (verso); 14 5/16 x 9 5/8 in. (36.4 x 24.5 cm)
Annotated in pen and brown ink at lower right of recto: G. L. Bernini; at upper center of verso: Lorenzo Bernini
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1973 (1973.265)
This rough and hasty sketch effectively depicts the sea deity Triton as he rises from the sea and raises the huge shell to his lips. The moment depicted could be that described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses when, after the great flood, Neptune summoned Triton from the depths to sound his horn and make the waters retreat. The sketch corresponds closely to the finished fountain in Piazza Barberini in Rome, where water gushes forth from the conch shell and spills down into the shell-shaped basin in which the Triton sits, raised aloft by intertwined dolphins.
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Related Index Terms
Artist
Material and Technique
- • Drawing, Chalk
- • Preparatory Study
- • Preparatory Study, Drawing
- • Preparatory Study, Drawing, Europe
Subject Matter/Theme
- • Figure, Deity
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman, Triton
- • Literature and Literary Connections
- • Literature and Literary Connections, Greek Poetry
- • Literature and Literary Connections, Greek Poetry, Ovid: Metamorphoses
Technical Glossary
- • Black chalk
- • brown wash
- • Chalk
- • Ink
- • Pen
