Contemporary Garden Decoration: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Beginnings
Contemporary Garden Decoration: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Beginnings A fountain, an incredible piece of engineering, not only supplies drinking water as it pours into a basin, it can also propel water high into the air for an extraordinary effect.From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply meant to serve as functional elements. Inhabitants 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. Used until the 19th century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their source of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from the power of gravity. Serving as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also supplied clean, fresh drinking water. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times used by Romans to beautify their fountains. Muslims and Moorish garden designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller models of the gardens of paradise. The fountains found in the Gardens of Versailles were meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
Indoor plumbing became the main source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby restricting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. The introduction of unique water effects and the recycling of water were 2 things made possible by swapping gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern fountains are used to embellish community spaces, honor individuals or events, and enhance recreational and entertainment events.
Attributes of Outdoor Statuary in Archaic Greece
Attributes of Outdoor Statuary in Archaic Greece Archaic Greeks were renowned for developing the first freestanding statuary; up till then, most carvings were formed out of walls and pillars as reliefs. For the most part the statues, or kouros figures, were of young and desirable male or female (kore) Greeks. Considered by Greeks to characterize skin care, the kouroi were created into firm, forward facing positions with one foot outstretched, and the male statues were always nude, well-developed, and athletic. Life-sized versions of the kouroi appeared beginning in 650 BC.
The Archaic period was turbulent for the Greeks as they progressed into more refined forms of federal government and art, and gained more information and facts about the peoples and societies outside of Greece. During this time and other times of historical tumultuousness, encounters often happened, including battles fought amongst city-states such as the Arcadian wars and the Spartan invasion of Samos.