Fontana di Mercurio nel Giardino del Gran Duca di Toscana (...), from 'La Fontane di Roma nelle Piazze e Luoghi Publici (...)', part 3, 'Le Fontane ne' Palazzi di Roma' (plate 9)

Publisher Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi Italian

1691 or after

Not on view

The various Roman villas of the important papal families, including the Villa Borghese, Villa Medici, and Villa Doria Pamphilj, were filled with an impressive array of antique artifacts and statues, both originals and copies after the antique. Venturini's print of the rear facade of the Villa Medici, remodeled in 1576–86 by Bartolomeo Ammanati, illustrates how loggia and garden are used as an open-air museum. Fully decorated with antique plaques, statues, and fountains, it included the classical-inspired fountain with Giambologna's elegant statue of Mercury (1564), a copy of which still graces the loggia today. These sculptures formed part of a group of no less than 170 pieces acquired in the late sixteenth century by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici from various notable Roman collectors. It included the impressive two Medici lions, shown here behind the statues of Silenus with the infant Bacchus and the Venus de' Medici, today displayed respectively in the Loggia dei Lanzi and the Tribuna of the Uffizi in Florence.
See 1991.1073.145(52-79) for more information.

Artwork Details

Title: Fontana di Mercurio nel Giardino del Gran Duca di Toscana (...), from 'La Fontane di Roma nelle Piazze e Luoghi Publici (...)', part 3, 'Le Fontane ne' Palazzi di Roma' (plate 9)
Artist: Giovanni Francesco Venturini (Italian, active ca. 1650–1700)
Publisher: Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi (Italian, Rome 1627–1691 Rome)
Date: 1691 or after
Medium: Etching
Dimensions: Plate: 8 3/8 × 12 1/4 in. (21.2 × 31.1 cm)
Classifications: Prints, Ornament & Architecture
Credit Line: Gift of D. W. Langton, transferred from the Library
Object Number: 1991.1073.145(3.9)
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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By Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi

By Giovanni Francesco Venturini

In the same medium

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La Fontane di Roma nelle Piazze e Luoghi Publici della Città (...), part 1, Giovanni Battista Falda Italian, Etching — La Fontane di Roma nelle Piazze e Luoghi Publici della Città (...), part 1
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Saturn devouring his son, from prints depicting the façade of the Palazzo Milesi

Multiple artists/makers

1650–1700

Soldiers, one shown frontally and holding a sword, at right a soldier with his back turned and holding a cup, four soldiers standing behind them with standards and spears, after the lost frescoes by Polidoro da Caravaggio on the façade of the Milesi Palace in Via della Maschera d'Oro, Rome, Giovanni Francesco Venturini Italian, Etching and engraving — Soldiers, one shown frontally and holding a sword, at right a soldier with his back turned and holding a cup, four soldiers standing behind them with standards and spears, after the lost frescoes by Polidoro da Caravaggio on the façade of the Milesi Palace in Via della Maschera d'Oro, Rome
Giovanni Francesco Venturini
Polidoro da Caravaggio
ca. 1650–1700

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