Where did Landscape Fountains Originate from?
Where did Landscape Fountains Originate from? 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 complete your home.Originally, fountains only served a practical purpose. 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 nineteenth, century most water fountains operated using the force of gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a supply of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Serving as an element of decoration and celebration, fountains also supplied clean, fresh drinking water. The main materials used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly illustrating animals or heroes. To replicate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs.
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 glorified with baroque style fountains made to mark the place of entry of Roman aqueducts.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Amazing water effects and recycled water were made possible by switching the force of gravity with mechanical pumps.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational activities.
Outdoor Fountain Engineers Through History
Outdoor Fountain Engineers Through History
Water feature designers were multi-talented people from the 16th to the later part of the 18th century, often serving as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one. Exemplifying the Renaissance artist as a creative master, Leonardo da Vinci worked as an innovator and scientific expert. With his tremendous fascination about the forces of nature, he explored the properties and mobility of water and methodically recorded his observations in his now much celebrated notebooks. Early Italian fountain engineers altered private villa settings into inventive water displays complete of symbolic meaning and natural charm by coupling imagination with hydraulic and horticultural talent. The humanist Pirro Ligorio, distinguished for his virtuosity in archeology, architecture and garden design, delivered the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli. Masterminding the excellent water marbles, water features and water jokes for the numerous mansions in the vicinity of Florence, some other water fountain designers were well versed in humanist subjects and ancient scientific texts.