Marble and mischio

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Marble and mischio horses
Fountain of Neptune by Bartolomeo Ammannati
Piazza della Signoria
Florence, December 2022

“Ammannati's Neptune was unique because of its incredibly large scale and even though there were several Neptune fountains around Italy at the time, none of them had Neptune atop a horse-drawn chariot. The fountain was being built to celebrate the marriage of Francesco and Joanna, and the association of chariots with festivals and pageants could be the reason for Bandinelli's unusual incorporation of a horse-chariot. Because the fountain's scale was so large, it forced Ammannati to make some innovative choices when constructing his giant Neptune. Two of the horses were white marble, but the other two were made of mischio, a marble discovered near the Duke's excavation site in Seravezza. This new marble was a type of breccia and had a variety of colors including red, yellow and purple. Because this was a new medium, its qualities were unknown to sculptors at the time and the hard, brittle quality of the mischio made Ammannati's task even more difficult. Due to the brittle quality of mischio the columns of stone broke in transit, creating delays in the fountain's completion. Ammannati was finally able to carve the remainder of the horse and complete the fountain in 1574. The project was intended to be completed by 1565 for the celebration of Francesco de' Medici I and Joanna of Austria's wedding, but due to a myriad of delays in sourcing supplies for the fountain's completion, Ammannati was forced to come up with a temporary solution for the arrival of Johanna of Austria. Through the use of stucco and paint, Ammannati was able to create the illusion of a finished product. The combination of the Neptune as the subject matter and Ammannati's use of the duke's newly found stone (mischio) made the fountain symbolic of the duke's reign over the Mediterranean and the mountains.” (Fountain of Neptune, Wikipedia)