The Genesis Of Fountains
The Genesis Of Fountains A fountain, an amazing piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for an extraordinary effect. Pure practicality was the original role of fountains. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide drinkable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be higher and closer to a water source, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to benefit from gravity which fed the fountains. Acting as an element of decoration and celebration, fountains also supplied clean, fresh drinking water. Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were commonly seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to re-create the gardens of paradise. Fountains enjoyed a considerable role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exert his power over nature. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Since indoor plumbing became the norm of the day for clean, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely decorative. Amazing water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Decorating city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the functions of modern-day fountains.
The Father Of Roman Water Fountain Design And Style
The Father Of Roman Water Fountain Design And Style
There are countless famous water features in Rome’s city center. Nearly all of them were designed, designed and constructed by one of the greatest sculptors and designers of the 17th century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Also a city architect, he had abilities as a fountain designer, and records of his life's work are apparent throughout the avenues of Rome. Bernini's father, a renowned Florentine sculptor, mentored his young son, and they ultimately moved to Rome, in order to fully express their art, primarily in the form of public water fountains and water features. The young Bernini received compliments from Popes and influential artists alike, and was an excellent worker. His sculpture was originally his claim to glory. An authority in classic Greek engineering, he used this knowledge as a starting point and melded it gracefully with Roman marble, most famously in the Vatican. He was influenced by many a great artists, however, Michelangelo had the biggest impact on his work.
"Primitive" Greek Art: Garden Statuary
"Primitive" Greek Art: Garden Statuary
Archaic Greeks were well known for developing the first freestanding statuary; up until then, most carvings were formed out of walls and pillars as reliefs. For the most part the statues, or kouros figures, were of adolescent and nice-looking male or female (kore) Greeks. Considered by Greeks to represent skin care, the kouroi were formed into firm, forward facing poses with one foot outstretched, and the male statues were usually nude, brawny, and fit. In about 650 BC, the varieties of the kouroi became life-sized. During the Archaic period, a great time of change, the Greeks were developing new types of government, expressions of art, and a better comprehension of people and cultures outside Greece. Throughout this time and other times of historic tumult, clashes often took place, most notably wars fought between city-states such as the Arcadian wars and the Spartan infiltration of Samos.