THE NEPTUNE FOUNTAIN
The Apprenticeship of a Renaissance Sculptor
by Taylor Morrison & illustrated by Taylor Morrison
Morrison (Antonio's Apprenticeship, 1996) painlessly imparts an enormous amount of information, delineating step-by-step the creation of a Renaissance sculpture; attractive illustrations echoing period color, line, and composition accompany this tale of a fictional 17th-century apprentice and his master. Young Marco goes to the studio of the greatest sculptor in Rome, Luigi Borghini, with a wax figure he has made, and a request to be apprenticed. Borghini accepts him, and is alternately prickly and kind. Cutting stone is the very last of the tasks Marco learns: There are hours and days of sketching cadavers and ancient sculptures; copying drawings; molding in wax and mud and horsehair; measuring and planning. Marco visits the quarry that is the source of the fine white marble that will become the ``Neptune Fountain'' and helps to get the marble back to Borghini's studio by boat. Marco's own carving of a grotesque waterspout finds a place in the finished work, and the master reminds him of the necessities of hard work, patience, and the passing down of the art to others. A note recounts Morrison's visit to the studio of a contemporary Italian marble sculptor, and the source of the slightly didactic closing lines. A worthy companion to the previous book. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)