The Museum of Art, built by John Ringling to house his personal collection of masterpieces,
today features paintings and sculptures by the great Old Masters including Rubens, van Dyck, Velázquez, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, El Greco, Gainsborough and more.
In October 1931, “The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art” was officially opened to the public.
The Courtyard of the Museum of Art features casts of original antiquities and renaissance sculptures,
including the towering David by Michelangelo.
The Courtyard features two fountains - Fountain of Tortoises, one of three replicas from the
Piazza Mattei in Rome, and the Oceanus Fountain, copied from the 16th century original by Giovanni Bologna in Florence’s Boboli Gardens.
This text is from http://www.ringling.org/