Where did Garden Water Fountains Begin?
Where did Garden Water Fountains Begin? The dramatic or decorative effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, in addition to providing drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.Pure functionality was the original purpose of fountains.
Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains functioned using gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a source of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Artists thought of fountains as amazing additions to a living space, however, the fountains also served to supply clean water and celebrate the designer responsible for creating it. Roman fountains often depicted imagery of animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of 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 Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were extolled with baroque style fountains constructed to mark the place of entry of Roman aqueducts.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to provide drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. The creation of special water effects and the recycling of water were two things made possible by swapping gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for public spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational gatherings.
Ancient Outside Water Fountain Designers
Ancient Outside Water Fountain Designers Fountain designers were multi-talented individuals from the 16th to the late 18th century, often serving as architects, sculptors, artisans, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one person. Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was celebrated as a ingenious intellect, inventor and scientific virtuoso.
He systematically reported his observations in his now much celebrated notebooks about his studies into the forces of nature and the properties and motion of water. Combining imaginativeness with hydraulic and gardening abilities, early Italian water feature creators modified private villa settings into brilliant water exhibits complete with symbolic implications and natural beauty. The humanist Pirro Ligorio brought the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli and was renowned for his virtuosity in archeology, architecture and garden concepts. Masterminding the extraordinary water marbles, water attributes and water pranks for the various mansions in the vicinity of Florence, other water feature creators were well versed in humanistic subjects and ancient technical texts.
The Beginnings of Contemporary Wall Fountains
The Beginnings of Contemporary Wall Fountains The translation of hundreds of classical Greek texts into Latin was commissioned by the scholarly Pope Nicholas V who led the Church in Rome from 1397 till 1455. It was important for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being known as the capital of the Christian world. Starting in 1453, the ruined ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Aqua Vergine which had brought clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away, underwent repair at the behest of the Pope. The ancient Roman custom of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was resurrected by Nicholas V. The Trevi Fountain now occupies the space previously filled with a wall fountain built by Leon Battista Albert, an architect commissioned by the Pope. Modifications and extensions, included in the restored aqueduct, eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain and the well-known baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona with the necessary water supply.