Water Fountain Designers Through History

Water Fountain Designers Through History Often working as architects, sculptors, designers, engineers and discerning scholars, all in one, fountain designers were multi-talented individuals from the 16th to the late 18th century. Exemplifying the Renaissance skilled artist as a inspiring genius, Leonardo da Vinci worked as an innovator and scientific guru. He carefully recorded his observations in his now famed notebooks about his research into the forces of nature and the attributes and mobility of water. Innovative water exhibits packed with symbolic significance and natural beauty transformed private villa settings when early Italian water fountain designers coupled creativity with hydraulic and landscaping abilities. Water Fountain Designers History 98436910008.jpg

Water Fountain Designers History 98436910008.jpg

Known for his incredible skill in archeology, design and garden design, Pirro Ligorio, the humanist, delivered the vision behind the wonders in Tivoli. Other fountain engineers, masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water features and water humor for the various properties in the vicinity of Florence, were well-versed in humanistic topics and time-honored scientific texts.

The Distribution of Garden Water Fountains Engineering Knowledge in Europe

Distribution Garden Water Fountains Engineering Knowledge Europe 9251672935.jpg

The Distribution of Garden Water Fountains Engineering Knowledge in Europe Throughout the European countries, the chief means of spreading practical hydraulic understanding and fountain design suggestions were the circulated papers and illustrated books of the time, which added to the evolution of scientific technology. An internationally recognized innovator in hydraulics in the late 1500's was a French water fountain designer, whose name has been lost to history. His expertise in creating gardens and grottoes with incorporated and ingenious water attributes began in Italy and with commissions in Brussels, London and Germany. He penned a publication titled “The Principles of Moving Forces” towards the end of his life while in France that turned into the basic text on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. The publication updated important hydraulic discoveries since classical antiquity as well as describing modern day hydraulic technologies. Prominent among these works were those of Archimedes, the developer of the water screw, a mechanized means of moving water. Sunlight heating liquid in a couple of vessels unseen in a room next to an ornamental fountain was shown in one illustration. Actuating the fountain is heated water which expands and ascends to seal up the conduits. Pumps, water wheels, water features and garden pond styles are documented in the publication.

Anglo Saxon Gardens During the Norman Conquest

Anglo Saxon Gardens During the Norman Conquest Anglo-Saxons felt incredible changes to their day-to-day lives in the latter half of the eleventh century due to the accession of the Normans. The Normans were much better than the Anglo-Saxons at architecture and horticulture when they came into power. Anglo Saxon Gardens Norman Conquest 736374989487.jpg

Anglo Saxon Gardens Norman Conquest 736374989487.jpg

But yet there was no time for home life, domesticated design, and decoration until the Normans had overcome the whole region. Castles were more standard constructions and often erected on blustery hills, where their people devoted both time and space to practicing offense and defense, while monasteries were major stone buildings, commonly located in the widest, most fruitful hollows. Relaxing pastimes such as gardening were out of place in these destitute citadels. Berkeley Castle, potentially the most unspoiled model of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture, still exists today. The keep is said to date from the time of William the Conqueror. An enormous terrace encompasses the building, serving as an obstacle to assailants intending to excavate under the castle walls. One of these terraces, a charming bowling green, is covered grass and flanked by an old yew hedge cut into the form of crude battlements.