Ludwig Vierthaler (1875 1967), Fontana con Dio Mercurio bambino su tartaruga
Glazed terracotta sculpture, ca. 1920 cm 62.5x40.5 Defects., The legend of Mercury sees him, a newborn child, transforming a turtle he met on his way into a lyre; a sublime musical instrument, which he will give to his brother Apollo. The episode of Mercury and the turtle gathers in itself some mythological traits typical of Hermes: that of the quick and creative intuition in front of the possibilities encountered and that of the sublimation of something "low" into something "high". In fact, the turtle is considered a symbol, in many ancient cultures, of the Earth as opposed to the world of the gods. Mercury therefore sees the possibilities of transformation from the earth (the carapace of the turtle) into the celestial (the sound of the lyre) and, quickly, implements his thought in a message both for men and for the gods (it is no coincidence that Mercury is the one who carries the messages between the gods and men). It seems that this fountain therefore wants to represent the act of creative sublimation of raw material and intellectual growth through the search for the perfection of the world, in a continuous dialogue between man and the divine.