Putto above a swan

Description

The "Putto sopra un cigno che nuota" ("Putto above a swimming swan") was made by Agostino Ubaldini between 1620 and 1621, as shown in the account of the statues made for the garden, commissioned by Cosimo II, dated April 22/May 3, 1622 ( Capecchi 2008, p. 70; ASF, Scrittoio delle Regie Possessioni, f. 2518). Qu esto putto and the other cupids that adorn the Fountain, ori ginarily adorned the perimeter of the large Island basin, where they are docu mented until 1638, and only after 1642 were they used to decorate the "Artichoke Fountain." The small "jubilant putti" were part of the "Bath of Venus" al lection and constituted the goddess' retinue. For Gabriele Capecchi, the image of the host of Cupids "swarming happily and mischievously around Venus" comes from Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (Capecch i 2008, p. 70). The marbles of these putti came from the workshop of Tacc a, who was officially given the commission to sculpt them. In 1617 the sculptor, absorbed by another assignment, gave the commission to Felice Palma to carve the putti; the sculptures would later be completed by the other "sculptorini" of Boboli. (Capecchi 2008, p. 70; ASF, Scrittoio dell e Regie Possessioni, 2516, c. 221, c. 250)