Bernini: The Master of Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains
Bernini: The Master of Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains One can find Bernini's earliest masterpiece, the Barcaccia water fountain, at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. Roman locals and site seers who appreciate conversation as well as being the company of others still flood this spot. Bernini would without a doubt have been happy to know that people still flock to what has become one the city's most fashionable areas, that surrounding his amazing water fountain. The master's first fountain of his career was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. An enormous boat slowly sinking into the Mediterranean is the fountain's central theme. The great flooding of the Tevere that covered the whole region with water in the 16th was commemorated by this momentous fountain as recorded by reports dating back to this period. Absenting himself from Italy only once in his life for a lengthy time period, in 1665 Bernini voyaged to France.Where did Garden Water Fountains Come From?
Where did Garden Water Fountains Come From?
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 complete your home. The main purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, via aqueducts or springs in the vicinity. Used until the nineteenth century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their source of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from the power of gravity. Fountains were an optimal source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and celebrate the artist. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often used by Romans to beautify their fountains. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were intended 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 spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Urban fountains built at the end of the 19th century served only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. The creation of unique water effects and the recycling of water were two things made possible by swapping gravity with mechanical pumps.
These days, fountains decorate public areas and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.