The Turtle Fountain ('La fontana delle Tartarughe')

A photograph of the Turtle Fountain ('Fontana delle Tartarughe'), a fountain in Rome built between 1580 and 1588 by Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo Landini.

This photograph is related to one in an album compiled by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), during his Roman trip in 1859 (see RCIN 2864007 for it). This album is attributed to the Roman photographer Tommaso Cuccioni on the basis of his blind stamp found on four photographs of the album.

Ruland (1876) notes that the fountain was executed by Landini "in imitation of the statue of Jonah", here referring to the statue in the Chigi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome (see RCIN 854244 for a photograph of a cast of Jonah).

The bronze turtles around the upper basin, usually attributed either to Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Andrea Sacchi, were added in either 1658 or 1659 when the fountain was restored.