A Short History of Early Garden Water Features

A Short History of Early Garden Water Features Short History Early Garden Water Features 069471839554237.jpg

As originally developed, water fountains were designed to be functional, directing water from creeks or reservoirs to the inhabitants of towns and settlements, where the water could be used for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. Gravity was the power source of water fountains up until the close of the 19th century, using the forceful power of water traveling down hill from a spring or brook to force the water through spigots or other outlets. Fountains throughout history have been created as monuments, impressing hometown citizens and travelers alike. Crude in style, the 1st water fountains didn't look much like contemporary fountains. A natural stone basin, crafted from rock, was the first fountain, used for holding water for drinking and religious functions. Natural stone basins are thought to have been first utilized around 2,000 BC. The spray of water emerging from small spouts was forced by gravity, the sole power source designers had in those days. Drinking water was supplied by public fountains, long before fountains became elaborate public monuments, as striking as they are functional. Fountains with embellished Gods, mythological monsters, and creatures began to show up in Rome in about 6 BC, made from natural stone and bronze. The remarkable aqueducts of Rome delivered water to the spectacular public fountains, many of which you can go see today.

The Dispersion of Fountain Design Innovation

The Dispersion of Fountain Design Innovation Throughout the European countries, the primary means of dissiminating useful hydraulic facts and fountain design ideas were the circulated papers and illustrated publications of the day, which added to the evolution of scientific innovation. In the late 1500's, a French water fountain developer (whose name has been lost) was the internationally renowned hydraulics innovator. His experience in designing gardens and grottoes with built-in and ingenious water attributes began in Italy and with commissions in Brussels, London and Germany. “The Principles of Moving Forces”, a book that became the fundamental text on hydraulic technology and engineering, was written by him toward the end of his lifetime in France. Describing contemporary hydraulic technologies, the book also modernized key hydraulic developments of classical antiquity. The water screw, a mechanical means to move water, and invented by Archimedes, was showcased in the book. Sunlight warming liquid in a pair of vessels unseen in a room next to an decorative water feature was presented in one illustration. The heated water expands and subsequently rises and shuts the pipes thereby triggering the water feature. The publication furthermore mentions garden ponds, water wheels, water feature concepts.

"Old School" Fountain Creative Designers

"Old School" Fountain Creative Designers Water feature designers were multi-talented people from the 16th to the later part of the 18th century, often serving as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one. Exemplifying the Renaissance artist as a creative master, Leonardo da Vinci performed as an inventor and scientific expert.

He carefully captured his findings in his currently famed notebooks, after his mind boggling curiosity in the forces of nature guided him to explore the characteristics and mobility of water. Ingenious water exhibits full of symbolic meaning and natural wonder changed private villa settings when early Italian water fountain designers paired resourcefulness with hydraulic and landscaping expertise. The magnificence in Tivoli were provided by the humanist Pirro Ligorio, who was renowned for his capabilities in archeology, architecture and garden design. For the assorted lands in the vicinity of Florence, other fountain builders were well versed in humanist subject areas as well as ancient scientific texts, masterminding the phenomenal water marbles, water highlights and water jokes.