Builders of the First Outdoor Fountains

Builders of the First Outdoor Fountains Fountain designers were multi-talented people from the 16th to the later part of the 18th century, often working as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one. Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was celebrated as a imaginative genius, inventor and scientific virtuoso. He systematically documented his findings in his now famed notebooks, following his tremendous curiosity in the forces of nature led him to investigate the properties and mobility of water. Brilliant water displays full of symbolic meaning and natural grace transformed private villa settings when early Italian fountain designers paired creativity with hydraulic and landscaping expertise. The humanist Pirro Ligorio supplied the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli and was recognized for his abilities in archeology, architecture and garden design. Other water fountain developers, masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water features and water antics for the various mansions near Florence, were tried and tested in humanistic topics and traditional scientific readings.

The Effect of the Norman Conquest on Anglo Saxon Landscaping

The Effect of the Norman Conquest on Anglo Saxon Landscaping The arrival of the Normans in the latter half of the eleventh century significantly transformed The Anglo-Saxon ways of living. The Normans were better than the Anglo-Saxons at architecture and horticulture when they came into power. But before concentrating on home-life or having the occasion to consider domestic architecture or decoration, the Normans had to subjugate an entire society. Monasteries and castles served separate purposes, so while monasteries were enormous stone structures constructed in only the most productive, wide dales, castles were set upon blustery knolls where the occupants focused on learning offensive and defensive tactics. The sterile fortresses did not provide for the peaceful avocation of gardening. Berkeley Castle, potentially the most pristine model of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture, still exists now. The keep is said to date from the time of William the Conqueror. As a technique of deterring assailants from tunneling underneath the walls, an immense terrace encompasses the building. On one of these terraces sits a quaint bowling green: it is covered in grass and flanked by an old yew hedge that is created into the shape of rough ramparts.

The Main Characteristics of Classic Greek Statuary

The Main Characteristics of Classic Greek Statuary Up until the Archaic Greeks provided the first freestanding statuary, a remarkable achievement, carvings had mostly been completed in walls and pillars as reliefs. Most of the freestanding statues were of young, winsome male or female (kore) Greeks and are called kouros figures. The kouroi were seen by the Greeks to represent beauty and were sculpted with one foot leading and an uncompromising firmness to their forward-facing poses; the male statues were always strapping, brawny, and undressing. The kouroi became life-sized beginning in 650 BC. A significant age of improvement for the Greeks, the Archaic period helped bring about new forms of state, expressions of art, and a greater comprehension of people and customs outside of Greece. Still, these battles did little to hinder the development of the Greek civilization.