Who signed for the Dolphin statue?

[epceddie]

This is something that has been on my mind for awhile now. I'd like to know who the big boss was who signed for the statue that sits on top of the Dolphin? It looks like a tired fish. There's no resemblance to a Dolphin at all. My wife and I chuckle every time we drive by. I'm laughing right now thinking about it.

[Yo Mickey!]

i posted about this awhile ago. my son and i call it the swan and fish.

[Tink#64]

LOL! I think about that every time we see it! One of things that make you go hmmm! :scratch: :shrug:

[epceddie]

It's quite amusing.

[Polynesian Dweller]

It's quite amusing.

Really? They are based on a fountain sculpted by Bernini in Rome in 1643. The fountain is Triton's fountain and another example of Bernini's dolphin style is seen in the Italy Pavillion in the Neptune fountain.

Floor mosaics in ancient Roman towns and cities show a similar stylization. The dolphins on the Dolphin resort then are copes of classical sculpture and ancient mosaics. Not funny but classical art.

[BrerGnat]

It's not supposed to be the mammalian dolphin, it's a dolphin FISH, a.k.a. "mahi-mahi". Do a Google Image search.

It's only funny and confusing if you don't know that.

And, ditto on what Polynesian Dweller wrote. :thumbsup:

[Mousemates]

by Yo Mickey!
i posted about this awhile ago. my son and i call it the swan and fish.

Well, I think you and your son are probably right on the money...for while the sculpture bears no resemblance to the mammalian dolphin, it actually bears a fair (though somewhat stylized) likeness to the fish that bears the same name. Google "dolphin fish" and look at some of the images and judge for yourself. :thumbsup: (sorry about doubling up on brer gnat's thought...I had a lengthy phone call come in which delayed my posting).

As for the "amusing" versus "art" thing, sometimes even classical art is very amusing, especially when you take it out of the context of its original culture, blow it up until its 1000 times larger than scale and stick it on top of a hotel in central florida.

I actually love the dolphins (in fact we prefer to stay in the swan over the dolphin,largely because we enjoy looking out the window and seeing the dolphins themselves) and I even used to have my kids (many years ago when they were small) convinced that the dolphins were my friends and winked those "big bulging eyes" at me when no one else was looking.

[IamBelle]

I heard that when they were building the Swan and Dolphin, they accidently placed the large statues on the wrong buildings, which is why the swan has paintings of waves on the outside of the hotel and the dolphin has grass...can anyone confirm, or is this just another rumor?

[Patricia]

The Dolphin (fish) Resort comes up a couple times a year.

As to the design of the Dolphin Resort and the "dolphin" in ancient Roman times, check out my post here (http://intercot.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=2163869&postcount=85)..

IamBelle, The swan and dolphin statues on the wrong building is also a rumour. There is an entire back story to the buildings which explains the water and grass.. but it has long been ignored. Has to do with a land mast coming out of the sea, creating an island, landing the dolphin to rest atop the building. The water rushing down flowed to the swan building, you'll notice the rails between the two buildings also depict water. There are a couple of stories on the actual swans, but basically they swam up for a better look.

[big blue and hairy]

It's not supposed to be the mammalian dolphin, it's a dolphin FISH, a.k.a. "mahi-mahi". Do a Google Image search.

:thumbsup:

Yup, I was about to type that. :D Sometimes you see "dolphin" on a menu, it's the mahi-mahi dolphin, not Flipper.

:sulley:

[mom2morgan]

I was going to reference Patricia's post! I used to think they were weird and ridiculous, too, before reading Patricia's post a few months ago. Now I can appreciate them as art! Just goes to show you never know the whole story, but Disney always seems to be very "by design".

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

As a East Coast Dweller (have caught and eaten many times) - we are very familiar with Mahi-Mahi and find it hilarious that they call it the Dolphin when it is so obviously the Mahi-Mahi.

[Kenny1113]

Thanks to this site and another thread I was able to clear this up for my kids when we stayed there. They were so impressed and walked around explaining why it was a fish. :thumbsup:

[epceddie]

Really? They are based on a fountain sculpted by Bernini in Rome in 1643. The fountain is Triton's fountain and another example of Bernini's dolphin style is seen in the Italy Pavillion in the Neptune fountain.

Floor mosaics in ancient Roman towns and cities show a similar stylization. The dolphins on the Dolphin resort then are copes of classical sculpture and ancient mosaics. Not funny but classical art.

Thank you for your response. I still think the statue is confusing, but I appreciate the information that you provided and I'm going to do some research to find out more about it.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

Really? They are based on a fountain sculpted by Bernini in Rome in 1643. The fountain is Triton's fountain and another example of Bernini's dolphin style is seen in the Italy Pavillion in the Neptune fountain.

Floor mosaics in ancient Roman towns and cities show a similar stylization. The dolphins on the Dolphin resort then are copes of classical sculpture and ancient mosaics. Not funny but classical art.

Sorry we all don't all have a strong knowledge of Renissance Italy. I consider myself to be well rounded and cultured, but I didn't know it was based on Triton's fountain in Italy.