Ancient Greece: Cultural Sculpture

Ancient Greece: Cultural Sculpture Although the majority of sculptors were compensated by the temples to adorn the sophisticated columns and archways with renderings of the gods, as the time period came to a close, it became more common for sculptors to portray ordinary people as well mainly because many of Greeks had started to think of their religion as superstitious rather than sacred. Wealthy individuals would often times commission a rendition of their forefathers for their large familial tombs; portraiture also became common and would be appropriated by the Romans upon their acquisition of Greek society. A point of aesthetic development, the use of sculpture and other art forms transformed through the Greek Classical period, so it is inexact to assume that the arts provided only one function. It may be the modern quality of Greek sculpture that grabs our eye these days; it was on a leading-edge practice of the classic world whether it was made for religious purposes or aesthetic pleasure.

When and Where Did Water Features Emerge?

When and Where Did Water Features Emerge? Pope Nicholas V, himself a well educated man, governed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classic Greek texts into Latin. It was important for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being called the capital of the Christian world. Starting in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent reconstruction at the bidding of the Pope. Building a mostra, a grandiose commemorative fountain built by ancient Romans to memorialize the entry point of an aqueduct, was a tradition revived by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was directed by the Pope to construct a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. Water Features Emerge? 0942012871.jpg

The water which eventually provided the Trevi Fountain as well as the renown baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona flowed from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.