Fata Morgana

Though this sculpture as a whole does not look like any other single work, its parts derive from several antique sources. The vertical orientation of the figure and the arrangement of its arms indicate an antique ‘Venus pudica,’ while other details come from various ancient Venus figures. The inventory of the sources from which Giambologna derived his statue would suggest that he thought about its identity largely in reference to depictions of Venus. However, the original patron of the statue framed the marble unambiguously as a representation of an entirely different personage: Fata Morgana (Morgan le Fay, sorceress of Arthurian legend).