Inventors of the First Water Features
Inventors of the First Water Features Water fountain designers were multi-talented individuals from the 16th to the late 18th century, often serving as architects, sculptors, artisans, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one person. Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was celebrated as an imaginative master, inventor and scientific master. He systematically recorded his examinations in his now famed notebooks about his studies into the forces of nature and the attributes and motion of water. Modifying private villa configurations into ingenious water displays packed of symbolic significance and natural beauty, early Italian fountain creators fused curiosity with hydraulic and horticultural abilities. The humanist Pirro Ligorio, renowned for his virtuosity in archeology, architecture and garden design, delivered the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli. For the various lands near Florence, other water fountain creators were well versed in humanist subject areas and classical technical texts, masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water attributes and water humor.Where did Large Garden Fountains Begin?
Where did Large Garden Fountains Begin? The incredible construction of a fountain allows it to provide clean water or shoot water high into air for dramatic effect and it can also serve as an excellent design feature to complement your home.From the onset, outdoor fountains were soley meant to serve as functional elements.
People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs nearby. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains functioned using gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a supply of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Serving as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also provided clean, fresh drinking water. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to strictly decorative elements. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to permit fountains to bring in clean water and allow for beautiful water displays.
Nowadays, fountains decorate public spaces and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.