Garden Fountain Designers Through History

Garden Fountain Designers Through History Garden Fountain Designers History 570762310524242.jpg

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 individuals, Leonardo da Vinci as a innovative intellect, inventor and scientific virtuoso exemplified this Renaissance artist. He methodically captured his ideas in his currently celebrated notebooks, after his tremendous interest in the forces of nature inspired him to research the characteristics and motion of water. Converting private villa configurations into imaginative water showcases packed of symbolic significance and natural beauty, early Italian water feature designers fused imagination with hydraulic and horticultural knowledge. The brilliance in Tivoli were provided by the humanist Pirro Ligorio, who was famed for his skill in archeology, engineering and garden design. Other fountain designers, masterminding the extraordinary water marbles, water attributes and water jokes for the many domains near Florence, were well-versed in humanistic subject areas and time-honored scientific texts.

Sculpture As a Staple of Classic Art in Ancient Greece

Sculpture As a Staple of Classic Art in Ancient Greece Up until the Archaic Greeks created the very first freestanding sculpture, a phenomenal triumph, carvings had chiefly been accomplished in walls and pillars as reliefs. Sculpture Staple Classic Art Ancient Greece 8824885977.jpg

Sculpture Staple Classic Art Ancient Greece 8824885977.jpg

Most of these freestanding sculptures were what is known as kouros figures, statues of young, attractive male or female (kore) Greeks. The kouroi were seen by the Greeks to represent beauty and were sculpted with one foot leading and an uncompromising rigidity to their forward-facing poses; the male statues were always strapping, sinewy, and undressing. Life-sized versions of the kouroi appeared beginning in 650 BC. A huge period of transformation for the Greeks, the Archaic period brought about newer forms of state, expressions of artwork, and a greater appreciation of people and customs outside of Greece. During this time and other times of historic tumult, clashes often occurred, most notably wars fought amongst city-states such as the Arcadian wars and the Spartan invasion of Samos.

Bernini’s Early Italian Fountains

Bernini’s Early Italian Fountains Bernini’s Early Italian Fountains 351625938.jpg

One can see Bernini's earliest masterpiece, the Barcaccia water fountain, at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, you will see Roman locals and vacation goers occupying this area to revel in chit chatter and being among other people. One of the city’s most fashionable gathering places are the streets surrounding Bernini's fountain, which would certainly have brought a smile to the great Bernini. The master's first fountain of his career was built at around 1630 at the request of Pope Urbano VIII. An enormous ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean is the fountain's main theme. The great 16th century flood of the Tevere, which left the entire region inundated with water, was memorialized by the fountain according to writings from the time. In 1665, France was graced by Bernini's only lengthy trip outside of Italy.