Poseidon1.0107_Bracci

Poseidon1.0107_Bracci

Pietro Bracci, 1700-1773, "Neptune and Attendants", marble fountain group, Trevi Fountain, Rome.

Neptune is drawn by two attendants through the central portal of a triumphal arch, riding the fresh water that spills into the pool of Rome's most famous fountain.

For narrative gain, it is important to note that the water surging constantly into the Trevi Fountain's basin is carried into Rome along the ancient acqueduct of the Aqua Virgo, built 1st century BC by M. Vipsanius Agrippa. Trevi Fountain became the terminus of that important acqueduct in medieval Rome, several hundred meters short of the Agrippa Baths that had fallen into disrepair. The triumphal arch that characterizes the Trevi facade now celebrates the triumphal accomplishment of Neptune's arrival in the middle of the city.

The inscription records that "Pope Clement XII adorned the Aqua Virgo, esteemed for its abundance and freshness, with magnificent art, A.D. 1735, in his 6th papal year." The inscription in the niche behind Bracci's Neptune commemorates the completion of the fountain under Clement XIII in 1762.

Collage showing the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy, in various perspectives, including historical and close-up views of sculptures

It is important to note that the figure of Neptune on the Trevi Fountain is very often misread as an Oceanus. The Trevi Fountain does not celebrate any maritime achievement, such as is often associated with Neptune/Poseidon in much other art (Venetian, Dutch, or English) since the Renaissance. Given the archaic Roman view of Neptune as a divinity presiding over springs, rivers, and waterways — not initially as a god of the sea — the Trevi Fountain's associating Neptune with the arrival of fresh, cool water from springs in the distant Sabine Hills celebrates a truly triumphal accomplishment.

Bracci's central statuary is only part of the whole. The basin (15th century) was augmented by a commission of Pope Clement XII awarded (1730) to Nicola Salvi who conceived the whole theatrical scene c. triumphal arch appearance. The fountain was completed after Salvi's death. Bracci's baroque exuberance animates the Neptune, the hippocamps that draw his chariot, and the two male attendants that lead him.

The images montaged at left include a detail of Bracci's Neptune, the inscription that crowns the central archway of the triumphal arch, an iconic image of Anita Ekberg frolicking in the Trevi Fountain in Federico Fellini's (1960) film La Dolce Vita, and a wide-angle image of the entire facade. When in Rome, tourists for decades have been tossing coins into the Fontana di Trevi in superstitious hope that doing so will assure a return to Rome.