PUTTO VERROCCHIO

The Putto with dolphin is a bronze statue of Andrea del Verrocchio, datable around 1470 which is hosted at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The winged putto is precariously balanced and with a boyish hand holds a dolphin. The putto is a subject that derives from the old, but here reinterpreted in a smiling dancing putto with the mantle that sticks to the back and the wet tuft, stuck to the forehead. In the dolphin, on the other hand, echoes of the dynamic naturalism learned from Settignano are perceived, which directed Verrocchio towards the transfiguration of sculptural material into soft, polished forms.