Comparison: Life-Sized Marble Sculpture By Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Neptune and Triton is a life-sized marble sculpture made by an Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini which was commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Peretti Montalto in 1622. [Figure 1] It depicts the figure of Neptune and his son Triton, captured mid-movement as they play out their roles in the narrative to which this scene belongs. Bernini uses his talent and artistic skills to create an illusion of action, an atmosphere of anticipation as we wait for the figures to come alive and break free from their current positions. This effect that the sculpture has on the viewer along with its other elements adds to the overall impression of a myth coming to life. With the amount of attention to detail that Bernini displays in his work, he manages to
He had just finished Pluto and Proserpine and started working on Apollo and Daphne while the work on Neptune and Triton was still in progress. Soon after, the creation of the statue of David followed. All of these sculptures share certain elements and they all have the same effect on its viewers that creates the impression of movement and a continuous narrative. It is in the way that Bernini finds the exact appropriate moment in motion and the way in which he portrays the bodies with anatomical precision which tells the viewer exactly what movement follows so that he cannot help but imagine it happening. It is also in the way Bernini manages to capture the correct emotions associated with the action depicted, the facial expressions being as accurate as if he had seen them before his eyes when he was creating his sculptures. He masterfully uses the effects of elements which do not necessarily have to be present but are suggested by the statue itself. Neptune’s hair and drapery captured floating around in imaginary wind, the shell used as a pedestal hinting at the presence of water which fits perfectly into the depicted scene. Although the actual surroundings only involve the calm waters of the pond, it is not difficult to imagine a wild ocean with tempestuous waves that directly mirror Neptune’s savage expression with his sharp
He often took a myth involving this theme and made a visual representation of the story in form of a stunning sculpture piece. Other artist before Bernini have, of course, incorporated this theme into their artworks but he was the first to not only capture the essence of the narrative but to bring its characters to life through the proficient handling of marble. The precision with which he handles the transition points of Daphne’s body morphing into a tree in Apollo and Daphne [Figure 7] or the section of Neptune and Triton where the human body meets the fin of a dolphin makes the viewer believe that such creatures occur in this world as Bernini must have seen them to make such sculptures. And by using his exceptional artistic skills, Bernini creates sculptures of people with realistic faces and honest expressions, evoking real feelings and creating a sense of personality which suggest their stories might not be just myths after