The Godfather Of Roman Garden Fountains
The Godfather Of Roman Garden Fountains There are any number of famous Roman water fountains in its city center. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the most brilliant sculptors and artists of the 17th century designed, created and built almost all of them. Also a city designer, he had capabilities as a water feature developer, and marks of his life's work are apparent throughout the streets of Rome.
To totally express their artwork, primarily in the form of community water fountains and water fountains, Bernini's father, a distinguished Florentine sculptor, mentored his young son, and they eventually moved in the City of Rome. An exceptional worker, Bernin earned praise and the patronage of popes and well known artists. He was initially renowned for his sculpture. Working faultlessly with Roman marble, he used a base of knowledge in the classic Greek architecture, most obviously in the Vatican. Though many artists had an impact on his work, Michelangelo had the most profound effect.
From Where Did Water Fountains Originate?
From Where Did Water Fountains Originate? Himself a learned man, Pope Nicholas V headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of scores of age-old documents from their original Greek into Latin. In order to make Rome deserving of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to enhance the beauty of the city. In 1453 the Pope instigated the repairing of the Aqua Vergine, an ancient Roman aqueduct which had carried fresh drinking water into the city from eight miles away. The ancient Roman custom of building an awe-inspiring 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 formerly filled with a wall fountain built by Leon Battista Albert, an architect commissioned by the Pope. The water which eventually supplied the Trevi Fountain as well as the renown baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona came from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.Did You Know How Technical Designs And Styles of Fountains Became Known?
Did You Know How Technical Designs And Styles of Fountains Became Known? Throughout Europe, the principal means of spreading practical hydraulic facts and fountain design suggestions were the circulated pamphlets and illustrated books of the day, which added to the development of scientific development. A globally celebrated leader in hydraulics in the later part of the 1500's was a French water fountain engineer, whose name has been lost to history. By developing gardens and grottoes with integrated and ingenious water features, he started off his career in Italy by receiving imperial commissions in Brussels, London and Germany. The text, “The Principles of Moving Forces,” penned near the end of his life in France, became the definitive writing on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. Detailing contemporary hydraulic technologies, the publication also updated critical hydraulic advancements of classical antiquity. The water screw, a technical way to move water, and devised by Archimedes, was showcased in the book. Natural light heated the liquid in two undetectable containers adjoining to the decorative water feature were shown in an illustration. The heated liquid expands and then ascends and shuts the water lines thereby triggering the fountain. Designs for pumps, water wheels, water attributes and outdoor ponds are also mentioned in the guide.Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Beginnings
Contemporary Garden Decor: Fountains and their Beginnings
A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to provide drinkable water, as well as for decorative purposes. The main purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. People in cities, towns and villages received their drinking water, as well as water to bathe and wash, from aqueducts or springs nearby. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains operated using the force of 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. Fountains were an optimal source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and memorialize the designer. Roman fountains usually depicted images of animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners included fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. Fountains played a significant role in the Gardens of Versailles, all part of French King Louis XIV’s desire to exert his power over nature. To mark the entrance of the restored Roman aqueducts, the Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries commissioned the construction of baroque style fountains in the spot where the aqueducts arrived in the city of Rome
Urban fountains created at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
Nowadays, fountains decorate public spaces and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.