Fontana dei Putti a Villa Sciarra

The Fontana dei Putti or del Biscione was commissioned in the early twentieth century by George Wurts and his wife Henrietta Tower, owners of the former Barberini Sciarra villa from 1902.
The couple furnished the gardens with sculptures and other early 18th century materials from a Lombard residence owned by the Visconti family, the Castle of Brignano Gera d'Adda, which fell into disrepair and was sold at auction in 1898. The cherubs decorating this fountain were part of the decoration of the Palazzo nuovo in Brignano: those immersed in the basin of the present fountain accompanying the coat of arms with the gaping jaws of the bison were originally placed on the cyma of the entrance door, while the others were on the attic of the inner front of the palace. They were reused in this fountain which, in the mixtilinear design of the frames, was inspired by other examples of fountains with tubs in the garden of Brignano.