The Neptune Fountain in Bologna: Bronze, Marble, and Water in the Making of a Papal City

As a gateway to the central Piazza Maggiore and a work of singular beauty and elegance, the Neptune Fountain is one of Bologna’s most prized artistic gems, recognized by all but understood by very few. Richard Tuttle’s monograph represents the first comprehensive study of this iconic monument, executed between 1563 and 1567 by the Flemish artist Giambologna and the Sicilian architect Tomaso Laureti, that considers all of the complex aspects of its commission, planning, execution, iconography, and urban impact. Working with an extraordinary body of documentary and visual materials, Richard Tuttle (1941-2009)–one of the world’s foremost authorities on Renaissance Bologna–reveals how the fountain was created collaboratively by papal administrators and artists, how it depended on contemporary hydraulic technology, communicated political messages, and became an instrument of urban renewal. The book’s broad appeal, scholarly rigor, and eloquent writing promise to make it an indispensable source on Italian sixteenth-century sculpture, architecture and urban planning, as well as a definitive text on this remarkable Renaissance fountain.