Creators of the First Garden Fountains
Creators of the First Garden Fountains Multi-talented people, fountain artists from the 16th to the late 18th century typically served as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one. Throughout the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci illustrated the artist as an imaginative genius, creator and scientific specialist. He systematically recorded his ideas in his currently celebrated notebooks, after his tremendous fascination in the forces of nature led him to research the qualities and movement of water. Innovative water exhibits packed with symbolic significance and all-natural grace converted private villa settings when early Italian water feature creators combined imagination with hydraulic and landscaping skill. The humanist Pirro Ligorio offered the vision behind the wonders in Tivoli and was renowned for his skill in archeology, architecture and garden design. Other fountain engineers, masterminding the fantastic water marbles, water attributes and water jokes for the various properties near Florence, were well-versed in humanistic themes and time-honored scientific texts.Sculpture As a Staple of Classic Art in Ancient Greece
Sculpture As a Staple of Classic Art in Ancient Greece The first freestanding sculpture was developed by the Archaic Greeks, a notable achievement since until then the sole carvings in existence were reliefs cut into walls and pillars. Most of these freestanding sculptures were what is known as kouros figures, statues of young, attractive male or female (kore) Greeks. The kouroi, viewed by the Greeks to portray beauty, had one foot extended out of a fixed forward-facing pose and the male figurines were regularly undressed, with a compelling, strong build. The kouroi grew to be life-sized starting in 650 BC.
A Concise History of the Early Outdoor Garden Fountains
A Concise History of the Early Outdoor Garden Fountains Villages and communities relied on working water fountains to funnel water for cooking, washing, and cleaning from local sources like lakes, streams, or springs. In the years before electrical power, the spray of fountains was driven by gravity exclusively, often using an aqueduct or water resource located far away in the nearby mountains. Fountains all through history have been designed as monuments, impressing local citizens and tourists alike. Crude in style, the very first water fountains did not look much like modern-day fountains. A natural stone basin, carved from rock, was the very first fountain, used for holding water for drinking and ceremonial functions. 2000 BC is when the oldest known stone fountain basins were actually used. The earliest civilizations that utilized fountains relied on gravity to drive water through spigots. Drinking water was delivered by public fountains, long before fountains became elaborate public statues, as striking as they are functional. Fountains with ornate decoration started to show up in Rome in approximately 6 BC, usually gods and animals, made with natural stone or copper-base alloy.
Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains
