Neptune

   The god of the sea, son of Saturn and Cybele, and brother of Jupiter. Neptune's consort is Amphitrite who at first rejected his advances and fled, but was later persuaded to marry him. Neptune had almost as many loves as his brother Jupiter, including Medusa, from which union Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor were born, and Gaia who bore him Antaeus. Neptune is often depicted on fountains, as in Bartolomeo Ammannati's Neptune Fountain (1563-1575) in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Benvenuto Cellini included the god reclining opposite Tellus in his famed salt cellar of Francis I of France (1540-1544; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) to denote the places of origin of salt and pepper. Jan Gossart depicted Neptune alongside Amphitrite as Italianate, classicized nudes (1516; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), the first rendition of its kind in Flanders. Eustache Le Seur painted the Marine Gods Paying Homage to Love (c. 1636-1638; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum), a work that shows Polyphilus and Polia, the characters of the Hypnerotomachia Polifili, being ferried to Venus' sacred island of Cythera by Neptune, Amphitrite, and their retinue.