ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 provides an extended discussion of Ammannati’s Neptune Fountain and the 1565 entrata of Johanna of Austria into Florence. The unprecedented size of the monolithic block of marble for the fountain’s centerpiece is shown to be the statuary’s most remarkable asset and its worst enemy, looking at factors like the intense artistic rivalry, its rigid pose and rendering of attributes and the location at the corner of the Ringhiera. The chapter also considers the splendor of the chariot, base and bronzes, a new vocabulary that brought together both land and sea. The chapter details the appearance of the Neptune Fountain at its temporary unveiling for the celebrated entrata of Johanna of Austria in 1565 as well as other marine deities and bounties of the sea, reflecting the continued bonds to Habsburg territorial power as well as Cosimo’s growing interest in collections of naturalia. The chapter concludes with two particularly fantastical renderings, the Cars of Neptune and Oceanus in the Mascherata della genealogia degli dei de’ gentili, where giant crabs and whales reflected a fascination with the monstrous and the wondrous and the playful mixture of art and nature that would characterize this age.
