Neptune

After 1550 the pace of Sansovino's sculptural activity slackened. Late Venetian projects, such as the tomb of Doge Francesco Venier (reg 1577-78) in San Salvatore or the huge marble Mars and Neptune at the top of the Scala dei Giganti in the courtyard of the Doge's Palace, were largely workshop productions, designed by Sansovino.

The figures of Mars and Neptune were carved by nine men generally working in groups of three or four over a period of twelve years from 1554. They bear Sansovino's distinctive stamp nonetheless and appear as convincingly bold despite the narrowness of their original blocks. Here, too, Sansovino showed his Tuscan roots, turning to Donatello's St George (Bargello, Florence) for the pose of Mars and to Baccio Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus (Piazza della Signoria, Florence) for the raw power that informs Neptune.