The fountain had originally been placed on the façade of the Grifoni Palace, owned by the Florentine painter Jacopino del Conte, in Via del Corso, but was then moved in 1872 to the Via Lata, on the façade of the De Carolis Simonetti Palace, today the seat of the Banca di Roma. The fountain represents a water-carrier dressed in typical16th century porters’ clothes who is holding a small barrel pouring water. The work was probably commissioned by the Università degli Acquaioli and is attributed to Jacopino del Conte,who is thought to have built it during the reign of Gregory XIII (1572-1585). From the 17th century the Porter became one of Rome’s “talking statues”.