Fata Morgana (c. 1572): Art, History and Details

Fata Morgana (c. 1572) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Giambologna (Flemish, active Italy, 1529–1608).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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 twisting pose invites the viewer to appreciate the Fata Morgana from every angle.

Object facts

• Title: Fata Morgana
• Date: c. 1572
• Creator attribution: Giambologna (Flemish, active Italy, 1529–1608)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 99 x 68 cm (39 x 26 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2025.18

A detail from the museum

The sculpture originally appeared to emerge mysteriously from a cave within a constructed grotto.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Borghini, R. Il Riposo di Rafaello Borghini. Florence: 1584. Florence, 1730. pp. xvi, 199, 549.
• Serie degli uomini i più illustri nella pittura, scultura, e architettura, VII. Florence, 1773. p. 22.
• Borghini, Raffaello. Il riposo di Rafaello Borghini. Florence, 1584. Milan: 1807. pp. 8–9.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.