Bernini’s Early Italian Fountains
Bernini’s Early Italian Fountains Bernini's earliest water fountain, named Barcaccia, is a masterful work of art seen at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. Roman residents and site seers who enjoy verbal exchanges as well as being the company of others still go to this spot. The streets surrounding his water fountain have come to be one of the city’s most fashionable meeting places, something which would certainly have pleased Bernini himself.
The master's first fountain of his professional life was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. A large vessel slowly sinking into the Mediterranean is the fountain's main theme. The great flooding of the Tevere that blanketed the whole region with water in the 16th was commemorated by this momentous fountain as recorded by reports dating back to this time. In 1665 Bernini journeyed to France, in what was to be his sole prolonged absence from Italy.
Modern Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Beginnings
Modern Garden Decoration: Garden Fountains and their Beginnings 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 a noteworthy effect. Pure functionality was the original role of fountains. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to supply them with potable water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. 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 move downwards or jet high into the air. Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and memorialize the designer. Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. To show his dominance over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Urban fountains made at the end of the 19th century served only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity helped fountains to deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
These days, fountains decorate public areas and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
The Godfather Of Rome's Water Features
The Godfather Of Rome's Water Features There are many renowned water features in the city center of Rome. One of the greatest sculptors and artists of the 17th century, almost all of them were designed, conceived and built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was also a urban designer, in addition to his expertise as a water fountain engineer, and records of his life's work are evident 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 earned encouragement from Popes and influential artists alike, and was an exceptional employee. He was originally renowned for his sculpture. Working gracefully with Roman marble, he utilized a base of knowledge in the ancient Greek architecture, most notably in the Vatican. Although many artists had an impact on his work, Michelangelo had the most profound effect.Creators of the First Garden Fountains
Creators of the First Garden Fountains Often working as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one, from the 16th to the late 18th century, fountain designers were multi-faceted people,
Leonardo da Vinci as a imaginative genius, inventor and scientific virtuoso exemplified this Renaissance master. The forces of nature led him to analyze the properties and motion of water, and due to his fascination, he systematically recorded his ideas in his now famed notebooks. Early Italian water feature designers transformed private villa settings into inspiring water showcases complete of symbolic meaning and natural beauty by combining imagination with hydraulic and horticultural talent. The splendors in Tivoli were provided by the humanist Pirro Ligorio, who was famed for his capabilities in archeology, engineering and garden design. Well versed in humanistic themes as well as classic technical texts, some other fountain makers were masterminding the excellent water marbles, water properties and water jokes for the various estates near Florence.