Rome, Bernini's Fountain of Rivers scarred: very serious damage to Nile lion

JANUARY 5 UPDATE: The Capitoline Superintendent’s Office on January 5 clarified who is the author of the defacement -- wear and tear. The damage was caused by a worn pin. Read more: https://www.finestresullarte.info/attualita/leone-quattro-fiumi-sovrintendenza-chiarisce-danno-causato-da-perno-usurato

One of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s masterpieces, the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, one of the symbols not only of Bernini’s art but of Rome itself, has been disfigured: denouncing it, following a report by art historian Martin Raspe of the Hertziana Library in Rome, is an article by Teodoro De Giorgio of theHuffington Post (the article was later also picked up by Artslife, so far the only media outlet, along with theHuffington, to report on the damage). In detail, the lion beside the personification of the Nile, which now finds itself without part of its jaw, has been seriously damaged: the photographs circulated by the newspaper (but also those found on social networks) show how the lion now finds itself without part of its jaw, without tongue, teeth, lower lip and part of the hair under its chin. This is very serious damage, because the lion now finds itself devoid of its expression.

It is not known when the damage dates back: De Giorgio did a search among the photographs available on the web, the thousands taken by tourists and citizens visiting the fountain, and found that as of June 21, the lion’s jaw was still intact. And it was certainly damaged before December 5: according to our research, an image from a user on Instagram where the lion’s chin is seen already destroyed is in fact remounted to that date. The Coolture association, reporting the news on its Facebook page, released another photo, from another angle, stating that it was taken on November 21. Still, some users privately reported to us a photograph from July 23 in which the jawbone was intact and one from August 27 in which it was already damaged, which could further circumscribe the day. In any case, no one seems to have noticed when it actually happened, and it is serious that it is currently unknown what happened to the missing fragment from the travertine masterpiece. “It is essential to find it,” De Giorgio writes, “in order to proceed, without wasting further time, with the restoration and rehabilitation.”

So now the question is: How is it possible that in all this time no one noticed it, except Dr. Raspe who, as soon as he saw the maimed lion, immediately reported the damage? “Is it possible,” asks De Giorgio, “that the Capitoline Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, which right in Piazza Navona, in the rooms of Palazzo Braschi, has its Central Video Surveillance of the historic-artistic sites of Roma Capitale (with cameras installed in the squares, streets and fountains of the historic center), did not notice?”

And to think that it was precisely the Fountain of the Rivers, this holiday season, that had been the subject of a videomapping show, with LED lights and special effects projected onto Bernini’s masterpiece, of which, moreover, the capital’s administration seemed particularly proud (despite De Giorgio calling it an “unseemly spectacle that outrages the memory of the most important Baroque artist and equates Rome with Las Vegas”). “A show that will enliven the Fountain of the Four Rivers with color, music and movement,” the official press release read: as if one of the greatest masterpieces of Baroque art needed to be “enlivened.” “We give the city,” Mayor Virginia Raggi enthusiastically declared, “a unique light show on one of the most beautiful fountains in the world and we give hope to the commercial fabric of the Center so tried by the crisis.” Now the most urgent hope is to find the missing fragment, figure out who damaged the work, and most importantly understand why no one noticed.

Pictured, left: the intact lion (ph. Francesco Bini, 2006 photo), right: the lion without the jaw (ph. @larissaromeguide via Instagram, Dec. 5, 2020 photo)

Rome, Bernini's Fountain of Rivers scarred: very serious damage to Nile lion

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