Fata Morgana
Medium
Marble
Dimensions
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Classification
Sculpture
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
2025.18
Tags
About this artwork
Commissioned by prominent banker Bernardo Vecchietti, whose surname means “old,” Fata Morgana took the name both of the nearby spring that fed the fountain she surmounted, and the legendary fairy who restored King Arthur’s youth. The Fata Morgana is one of only around a dozen sculptures in marble by Giambologna. The artist’s favorite subject was the female nude because of its capacity to showcase his extraordinary ability to model softness in hard stone and to convey dynamic movement. Her twisti...