Bocca Della Vertita

Name: La Bocca Della Verita (The Mouth of Truth)

Date: unknown

Artist: unknown

Location: Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, Italy

Approximate Dimensions: 1.75 m in diameter

Medium: marble

Sources of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouth_of_truth

http://www.italyguides.it/us/roma/rome/aventine/santa_maria_in_cosmedin/the_mouth_of_truth/bocca_della_verita.htm

Picture taken by: Kate Tricarico

Significance of the work:

In the days when Roman society thought that the world was flat, it was believed that a great river encircled the earth to its outermost edge. The god of this river was known as Oceanus. He is often depicted as having the upper body of a muscular man with a long beard and horns. The son of Coelus (god of the sky) and Vesta (god of the earth), Oceanus had many sisters, all of whom were nymphs. In the Iliad, the iconography of Achilles' shield, is enclosed and encircled, as the world itself was believed to be, by Oceanus. When geography became more accurate, Oceanus came to represent the stranger, more unknown waters of the Atlantic Ocean, as opposed to the Mediterranean.

According to legend, once the rich wife of a Roman noble was accused of adultery. The woman denied the accusations, but her husband wanted to put her to the test by making her hand inside the stone mouth. Knowing perfectly well that she was lying, the woman used a very clever strategy. In front of a group of curious bystanders who had gathered around the Mouth of Truth, the man who was actually her lover embraced her and kissed her. She pretended that she didn't know him and accused him of being a madman and the crowd chased him away.When she put her hand into the mouth, the woman declared that she had never kissed any other man apart from her husband and the poor madman who had just kissed her. In this way she was certain that she hadn't lied and her hand was saved. The betrayed husband saved her honour, but the Mouth of Truth lost its credibility and it is said that since that day it no longer carried out its function as a right and unappeasable judge.

Fontana di Trevi

Name: Fonatana di Trevi

Date: 1732-1762

Artist: Nicola Salvi

Location: Piazza di Trevi, Rome, Italy

Approximate Dimensions of entire fountain: 85 by 65 ft

Medium: marble

Sources of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain

http://www.garden-fountains.com/articles/trevi-fountain.html

Picture taken by: Kate Tricarico

Significance of the work:

The Trevi Founatin marks the ending point of one of the ancient Roman Aqueducts known today as Aqua Vergine. In 1730 Pope Clement XII declared a contest to determine who would design and build the fountain. Nicola Salvi originally lost to Alessandro Galilei, but the Roman populous was outraged that a Florentine had won and therefore commission was granted to Salvi. It took thirty years for Salvi’s design to come to completion and Pietro Bracci’s sculpture of Oceanus was the final piece to be set inside the fountain in 1762.

As legend has it, if visitors to the Trevi Fountain throws a coin into Oceanus’s waters, they are ensured a return to Italy and to Rome. Yet other interpretations hold that if two coins thrown into the waters they will ensure an upcoming marriage and if three coins are tossed into the wet depths, they will lead to a divorce or breakup. According to statistics, approximately $3500 is thrown into the Trevi Fountain each day and the coins are collected at night, and used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's poorer population.

Family Tree and Chart

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