Rome "Putto fountain" sterling silver replica ( located in via Giulia -XVI cent. )

This sterling silver reproduction of the Putto Fountain in via Giulia was made starting from the wax model created by the artist, painter and sculptor, Foscolo Benedetti. The Putto (Putto= Angel ) Fountain is located in Via Giulia, in the part included in the Rione Ponte, at the corner with Vicolo del Cefalo and leaning against the facade of the sixteenth-century Palazzo Sacchetti. The fountain dates back to the 16th century, certainly coeval or subsequent to 1542, the year in which the palace was built. It is not known who the architect or sculptor who designed the fountain is: some hypothesize Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who in 1542 designed the Palazzo Sacchetti for himself, others instead Nanni di Baccio Bigio, who enlarged the palace a few years later to will of Cardinal Giulio Ricci from Montepulciano. In all probability the fountain was restored at the time of Clement X Altieri (1670-1676), whose coat of arms features two six-pointed stars. The fountain represents a Putto located in a niche decorated with a shell and two pillars that embraces two dolphins, which once threw water into a basin that no longer exists.