River god of the Nile

Title: River god of the Nile

Artist: Giacomo della Porta, designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Location: Palazzo Senatorio

Date: Redesign-16^th century, Completion-17^th century

Size: 10 ft. x 6 ft. x 3 ft.

Medium: Marble

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

This sculpture was designed by Michelangelo as part of the Capitoline Hill renovations commissioned in the mid-16^th century. Giacomo della Porta was the man who brought the art to life. However, the statue has been in existence for much longer. According to The Fountains of Papal Rome, “Once they [the matching Tiber river statue] stood before that most magnificent of all Roman temples" — Aurelian's Temple of the Sun. Later they belonged to the Medieval Museum of Statues, a collection kept in or near the old papal palace of the Lateran, where they had been called Bacchus and Saturn.” The god was identified because of the presence of the sphinx. The river gods were to be worshipped because they ruled over the waters that breathed life into Rome and all humanity.