Neptune

Pietro da Barga

ca. 1580 · Copper alloy with light brown patina under a verdigris patina. · Robert Lehman Collection

Small-scale copies after the Antique such as this figure were a specialty of Pietro da Barga, who created many such reductions of Classical statuary for wealthy and discerning patrons such as the Medici grand dukes of Florence. Inspired by a Hellenistic Greek or Roman statue or statuette, this figure was probably intended to represent Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. However, the figure could also depict Jupiter, the Roman god of the sky and king of the gods. The figure's identity remains ambiguous because the attribute he likely once brandished in his raised right hand—for example, a trident for Neptune or a thunderbolt for Jupiter—is now absent.

Artist

Pietro da Barga

Date

ca. 1580

Medium

Copper alloy with light brown patina under a verdigris patina.

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975