Where did Landscape Fountains Begin?
Where did Landscape Fountains Begin? The incredible architecture 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 enhance your home.The primary purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. Residents of cities, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash, which meant that fountains had to be linked to nearby aqueduct or spring. Up to the late nineteenth 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 not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the artist who created it.
Bronze or stone masks of wildlife and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners included fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were extolled with baroque style fountains built to mark the place of entry of Roman aqueducts.
Urban fountains built at the end of the nineteenth served only as decorative and celebratory ornaments since indoor plumbing provided the necessary drinking water. The creation of special water effects and the recycling of water were 2 things made possible by replacing gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational gatherings.
Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Greatest Fountains
Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Greatest Fountains The Barcaccia, Bernini's very first fountain, is a striking chef d'oeuvre built at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, you will find Roman locals and vacation goers filling this spot to revel in chit chatter and being among other people. 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. Dating back to around 1630, Pope Urbano VIII commissioned what was to be the very first fountain of the master's career.
Illustrated in the fountain's design is a great vessel slowly sinking into the Mediterranean Sea. 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 documents dating back to this period. Absenting himself from Italy only once in his life for a lengthy time period, in 1665 Bernini voyaged to France.