Triton with a Sea Serpent

ca. 1630s, before 1642

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini Italian, 1598-1680

On View

European: Grand Tour of Italy-Rome, Level 2, South Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Triton with a Sea Serpent

Artwork Date ca. 1630s, before 1642

Artist Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

Life Dates 1598-1680

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Terracotta

Dimensions Overall: 11 × 6 3/4 × 7 1/4 inches (27.9 × 17.1 × 18.4 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 52.218

Markings

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Provenance

possibly Palazzo Barberini (Rome, Italy);
Friedrich von Amerling (Vienna, Austria);
May 6, 1916, (Dorotheum, Vienna, Austria) Estate of Friedrich von Amerling, lot 178;
Dr. Rudolphe Berl (Vienna, Austria);
(Wildenstein, New York, New York, USA);
1952-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Planscig, Leo. "Die Auktion Amerling." Die Bildenden Kunste [Der Architekt], vol. XXI (1916/18): p. II (ill.)

Brinckmann, A.E. "Due bozzetti per fontana di G.L. Bernini." Bolletino D'arte (1924): pp. 492-493.

Brinckmann, A.E. Barock-Bozzeti, vol. 2. Frankfurt, 1924, pp. 491-493.

Bozzetti und Modelletti der Spatrenaissance und des Barock. Exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna, 1936-1937, nos. 3-4.

Born, Wolfgang. "Bozzetti and modelletti of the late Renaissance and the Baroque." Connoisseur 99 (April 1937): pp. 191-192 (figs. 1 and 3).

Froelich-Bume, L. "Bozzetti and modelletti of the Late Renaissance and the Baroque." Burlington Magazine 70 (March 1937): p. 133.

Bulletin of the DIA 32, no. 3 (1952-1953): pp. 60-64 (ill.).

Art in Italy, 1600-1700. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1965, no. 27 (ill.).

Wittkower, R. Gian Lorenzo Bernini. London, 1966, p. 227, no. 55 [as a bozzetto].

Fagiolo dell'Arco (1967): (figs. 38, 142).

Schlegel, U. Die italienschen Bildwerke des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1978, p. 12, no. 4.

Darr in Rome. 1999, pp. 182, 382-384, nos. 121-122.

Gaskell, I. and H. Lie, eds. Sketches in Clay for Prjects by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Theoretical, Technical and Case Studies. Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin (Spring 1999): pp. 120, 123, 177.

Darr, A.P., P. Barnet, A. Bostrom, C. Avery, et al. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts, 2 vols. London, 2002, 2 vols., II, cat. 136a.

Ostrow, Steven F. "'The Fire of Art'?: A Historiography of Bernini’s Bozzetti." In Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, ed. C. D. Dickerson III, Anthony Sigel, and Ian Wardropper. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2012, pp. 77–78.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, Triton with a Sea Serpent, ca. 1630s, before 1642, terracotta. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund, 52.218.