Porcellino

Porcellino is a bronze boar fountain, and the mascot of the Faculty of Arts. It can be found on a concrete base, in front of the Modern Languages building.



History
Porcellino is a bronze fountain made from a cast of Pietro Tacca's Il Porcellino. It is one of five copies made in 1962(although many more exist today) by Fonderia Ferdinando Marinelli and was purchased by Pure Mathematics professor Dr. Henry Crapo.

In 1978, Dr. Crapo donated the boar fountain to UW's Descartes Foundation. Not having any reason to keep it, the piece was then passed on to the Works of Art Committee. It was placed in the foyer of the Modern Languages building until a permanent home could be found.

Theft
Not even a 700-pound bronze boar statue is free from the threat of theft. The fountain was stolen by a group of engineers in the fall of 1991. The boar was then dressed up as a dog and placed guarding the entrance of POETS, which was renamed “DAWGS” and decorated as a dog house. The engineers returned the fountain soon after, and it was placed in storage for several years. This forced the search for a permanent home to begin in earnest.

Current Location
After much debate and many proposed locations on campus, outcry from Arts students led to the fountain finding its permanent home in front of the Modern Languages building. It was decided that the fountain would be too expensive to fit with the proper plumbing. The statue in its current location was officially unveiled on June 4th, 1994.