Contemporary Garden Decor: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots
Contemporary Garden Decor: Outdoor Fountains and their Roots The amazing or decorative effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, as well as supplying drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.Pure functionality was the original role of fountains. Residents of cities, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains had to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up to the late 19th century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and higher than the fountain so that gravity could make the water flow downwards or shoot high into the air. Fountains were not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the artist who created it. Roman fountains often depicted images of animals or heroes made of metal or stone masks. To illustrate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. Fountains enjoyed a significant role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exert his power over nature. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to extol their positions by including decorative baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to provide drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to strictly decorative elements. The creation of unique water effects and the recycling of water were two things made possible by replacing gravity with mechanical pumps.
These days, fountains adorn public spaces and are used to recognize individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
The Original Fountain Artists
The Original Fountain Artists Water fountain designers were multi-talented individuals from the 16th to the late 18th century, often working as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one person.
Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was renowned as an inventive master, inventor and scientific master. He carefully recorded his findings in his now much celebrated notebooks about his research into the forces of nature and the qualities and motion of water. Innovative water exhibits complete of symbolic significance and natural grace changed private villa settings when early Italian water fountain creators paired imagination with hydraulic and gardening skill. Known for his virtuosity in archeology, design and garden creations, Pirro Ligorio, the humanist, offered the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli. Other water feature designers, masterminding the incredible water marbles, water functions and water humor for the various properties in the vicinity of Florence, were well-versed in humanistic themes and traditional scientific readings.