A statue by Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini given on permanent loan by a private owner has been put on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The statue, of the mythical sea creature Triton, is the only work by the artist in the Netherlands. Bernini is one of Italy’s most renowned Baroque sculptors and the acquisition is of “historical” importance,  Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbets said.

The work is a terracotta model of the statue Bernini made for a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome in 1653. It then came into the possession of an Italian family.

The sculptor was an important influence on his Dutch contemporaries who traveled to Italy in the 17th century, Dibbets said. Artus Quellines was in Rome when Bernini worked there and the statues he made for what is now the palace on Dam square were clearly inspired by the Italian artist’s work.

Another terracotta model of the Triton is on show at the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas. It is more detailed and finished and was probably a gift from by Bernini to Pope Innocentius X who commissioned the statue.