Doorknocker in the form of Neptune with two seahorses

The doorknocker, which comes from the palace of the Cordellini family in Contra’ Riale in Vicenza, arrived in the bronze collection of the Civic Art Gallery in 1884.

In the centre stands the naked Neptune shouting abuse at the winds which, as narrated by Virgil (Aen. I), by order of Juno, had unleashed a powerful storm against the Trojan fleet in the vain attempt to sink it. The angry god, with his hair and beard ruffled by the wind and a glowering face, emerges from the waves holding his trident, which has unfortunately been lost, in his right hand. Next to him are two winged seahorses with their tails entwined at the top at the level of the hinge pin and their front legs crossed at the bottom, resting on the handgrip in the shape of an upside-down shell.

This type of iconography was widespread during the Renaissance, particularly in Venice: the Venetians, believing they were the unrivalled lords of the sea, liked to identify themselves with this image of the god Neptune.

The doorknocker in the Vicenza Civic Art Gallery, roughly worked and imprecisely finished, was cast as the reproduction of a model of much higher quality, probably designed by the sculptor Alessandro Vittoria.