INFANT TRITONS

Infant Tritons are the figures adorning the fountains of Bilbao's Arenal, in the central promenade next to the Arriaga Theatre; far from being cherubs, they feature a bifurcated fish tail, an iconographic trait characteristic of sirens or tritons from classical mythological tradition, and hold the fish from which water flows in a clear allegory of the estuary and the city's historical link with the maritime and commercial world; created in the late 19th century, around the 1890s, as part of the urban beautification process that accompanied the expansion and modernization of Bilbao, these sculptures reflect an eclectic taste with Baroque and Neoclassical echoes, today they are over one hundred and twenty years old and constitute one of the most unique and symbolic ornamental elements of the Arenal.