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| Marforio Roman marble statue of the mid-Imperial period Capitoline Museum |
There were three famous and colossal statues of reclining water-gods in Rome during the Renaissance. The most venerable was called Marforio. It had survived – possibly above ground – from ancient times and was "a landmark in Rome recognized by the late twelfth century." Other recorded designations include Danube ; Jove Panario, Marfoi ; Marfoli ; Mars ; Nar ; Neptune ; Ocean ; Rhine ; Tiber.
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| Domenico de Rossi Marforio 1704 engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Jan de Bisschop Marforio mid-17th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
Colossal statues of The Nile and The Tiber both came to light during excavations in the early 16th century. "The numerous prints of the Nile [below] which testify to the esteem with which it was regarded are also often misleading because the putti are either depicted intact or altogether removed. In reality, these putti existed only as broken fragments until repaired by Gaspare Sibilla (a commission given to him by Pope Clement XIV shortly before his death in 1774). An early theory was that there had been originally seventeen putti representing the seventeen kingdoms of Egypt watered by the Nile. The correct interpretation was that the sixteen putti clambering over the god referred to the sixteen cubits by which the river could rise in the rainy season."
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| Enea Vico Statue of the Nile at the Vatican 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Cherubino Alberti Statue of the Nile at the Vatican 1576 engraving British Museum |
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| James Anderson Statue of the Nile at the Vatican ca. 1845-55 albumen silver print Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Anonymous photographer The Nile early 18th century copy - bronze statuette Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Gian Paolo Panini Capriccio with two famous antique Roman statues Silenus with the Infant Bacchus (left) and the Nile (center) ca. 1691-92 watercolor Morgan Library, New York |
The Tiber (below) was excavated in 1512 and immediately placed in the Belvedere Courtyard at the Vatican by Pope Julius II. Shortly afterwards it was paired there with The Nile, thought to be a Roman copy of a Hellenistic work brought from Alexandria in ancient times. Napoleon's armies carried both The Tiber and The Nile (but not Marforio) to Paris in the early 19th century. After Waterloo, The Nile was returned by the victorious allies to Rome, but The Tiber (incredibly) was allowed by the Pope to remain in France, ostensibly as a gesture of good will to the restored monarchy there.
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| Charles Nègre Statue of the Tiber in the Gardens of the Tuileries, Paris 1859 albumen silver print Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Pietro Santi Bartoli Statue of the Tiber in the Belvedere-Courtyard at the Vatican mid-17th century etching, engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Enea Vico Statue of the Tiber 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Claude Randon Statue of the Tiber 1704 engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Jean-Nicolas Langier Statue of the Tiber ca. 1816-18 etching, engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Anonymous artist Statue of the Tiber after 1512 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
The drawing above contains a very early drawing of what may be the Tiber statue, and what is certainly one of the horse heads from the so-called Alexander and Bucephalus monument (now known as Castor and Pollux). That monument will appear here tomorrow, recorded at different periods in different formats, continuing this late and feeble effort to imagine these artifacts across the wide stretches of their prolonged existences. Another early view of the Tiber appears below in an engraving by Hieronymus Cock based on drawings made in Rome by Maarten van Heemskerck in the 1530s. At far right, a pair of male viewers stand in awestruck contemplation, dwarfed by the reclining figure of the Tiber.
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| Hieronymus Cock after Maarten van Heemskerck Roman ruins 1552 etching British Museum |