Triton - Adriaen De Vries

Adriaen de Vries worked in Italy, Bohemia, and Germany. As a pupil of Gian Bologna, De Vries adopted an Italian manner which had in it but little trace of Teutonic character. Besides numerous imposing works carried out at Prague for Rudolph I I and at Vienna, he made two fountains of Hercules and Mercury, at Augsburg, wherein he followed the example of his master in using the familiar figures of allegory and classical tradition combined with prodigal generosity and executed in a full and splendid style. The bronze Triton may be a study for one of the auxiliary figures in such a fountain, as the design would indicate, but this cast has never apparently served its purpose. It is of the same period as the Sansovino terracotta exhibited in this gallery, but belongs to another though no less typical phase of the sculpture of the day.