Bernini's Early Showpieces
Bernini's Early Showpieces The Barcaccia, Bernini's very first water fountain, is a magnificent chef d'oeuvre built at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, this area is filled with Roman locals and travelers alike who enjoy conversation and each other's company. Bernini would undoubtedly 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. Dating back to around 1630, Pope Urbano VIII commissioned what was to be the earliest fountain of the master's career. The fountain’s central motif is based on a massive boat slowly sinking into the Mediterranean. Period writings dating back to the 16th century indicate that the fountain was constructed as a monument to those who lost their lives in the great flooding of the Tevere. In 1665 Bernini traveled to France, in what was to be his only lengthy absence from Italy.How Technical Designs And Styles of Fountains Spread
How Technical Designs And Styles of Fountains Spread Spreading pragmatic hydraulic knowledge and fountain design ideas all through Europe was accomplished with the written papers and illustrated publications of the time. An internationally celebrated pioneer in hydraulics in the later part of the 1500's was a French fountain designer, whose name has been lost to history. With imperial mandates in Brussels, London and Germany, he began his work in Italy, acquiring expertise in garden design and grottoes with built-in and ingenious water features. The book, “The Principles of Moving Forces,” authored near the end of his life in France, turned out to be the fundamental writing on hydraulic mechanics and engineering.