# Fontana del Tritone [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BERNINI, Gian Lorenzo]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Travertine, over life-size ## Commentary Bernini's last major commission for Urban VIII's papacy was for a fountain outside the family palace at Piazza Barberini. With the Triton Fountain, completed in 1642-43, Bernini abandoned the staid, architectural format of earlier fountains to create a spectacle. Four dolphins, tails entwined around the papal coats of arms and supporting a giant bivalve, arise from a pool of water. The sea god Triton, seated in the middle of this great shell, blasts a thunderous stream of water heavenward from a massive conch shell. The base, basin and figure are integrated into an organic, poetic whole, which Bernini intended as a celebration of Urban VIII's rule. ## Related artworks - [A portrait of a Man]() - [A seated male nude]() - [Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius \(detail\)]() - [Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius]() - [Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius]() - [Altar Cross]() - [Angel]() - [Angel with the Column]() - [Angel with the Crown of Thorns]() - [Angel with the Superscription]() - [Angels on Ponte Sant'Angelo]() - [Apollo and Daphne \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()