The Fountain of the Four Elements
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Provenance
An old collection in Granada, where a tradition of Alhambra provenance was preserved for generations, as recorded in the 2017 catalogue (p. 86).
Attributed to Niccolò da Corte, this Renaissance marble fountain brings together four allegorical reliefs representing Water, Earth, Air and Fire. Neptune, Ceres, Aeolus and Jupiter surround a circular basin, while lion heads and lettered volutes articulate its corners. The finely carved, shallow reliefs reveal the sculptor’s dialogue with classical models and the artistic exchanges between Genoa and Spain. Studied by Rosario Coppel and Margarita Estella Marcos in the monograph The Fountain of the Four Elements (2017), the work is dated to c. 1535–1537, before da Corte’s move to Granada.
The 2017 catalogue records that the fountain belonged to an old collection in Granada, where a tradition of its origin in the Alhambra had been preserved for generations. Rosario Coppel further suggests that it may have been commissioned to honour Charles V, relating its imagery to the emperor’s naval victories, particularly the conquest of Tunis in 1535. She associates the lions with imperial power and proposes that the alternating initials “A. G.” may refer to the Alhambra of Granada, where the Palace of Charles V was then under construction.
Literature
Rosario Coppel and Margarita Estella Marcos, The Fountain of the Four Elements: An unknown work by Niccolò da Corte (c. 1500–1552) (Jaime Eguiguren, 2017), pp. 56–57, 86–87. ISBN 978-84-697-5955-4.