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.Technical Designs Styles Fountains Spread 408983342680540510.jpg The publication updated key hydraulic discoveries since classical antiquity as well as describing contemporary hydraulic technologies. The water screw, a mechanical method to move water, and invented by Archimedes, was highlighted in the book. Natural light warmed the liquid in a pair of concealed vessels adjacent to the beautiful fountain were shown in an illustration. The end result: the fountain is stimulated by the heated water expanding and ascending up the pipelines. Models for pumps, water wheels, water attributes and outdoor ponds are also covered in the publication.
Where did Garden Water Fountains Originate 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 complement your home.... read more


Contemporary Sculpture in Early Greece In the past, the vast majority of sculptors were paid by the temples to decorate the elaborate columns and archways with renderings of the gods, but as the era came to a close it grew to be more accepted for sculptors to present ordinary people as well simply because many Greeks had begun to think of their institution as superstitious rather than sacred.... read more


Setting Up and Maintaining Landscape Fountains Setting up an outdoor wall fountain requires that you take into account the dimensions of the space where you are going to place it.It is essential that the wall where you are going to hang it is sturdy enough to support its weight.... read more


Wall Fountains: The Minoan Culture Archaeological excavations in Minoan Crete in Greece have uncovered varied types of conduits.In conjunction with supplying water, they dispersed water which gathered from storms or waste material.... read more