Bernini: The Master of Italy's Most Impressive Fountains
Bernini: The Master of Italy's Most Impressive Fountains
One can find Bernini's very first masterpiece, the Barcaccia water fountain, at the bottom of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. Roman residents and site seers who enjoy verbal exchanges as well as being the company of others still go to this spot. Today, the city streets around Bernini's water fountain are a trendy place where people go to gather, something which the artist would have been pleased to learn. 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 large vessel gradually sinking into the Mediterranean Sea. Period writings dating back to the 16th century show that the fountain was constructed as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the great flooding of the Tevere. Absenting himself from Italy only once in his life for a long-lasting time period, in 1665 Bernini voyaged to France.
Where did Garden Water Fountains Begin?
Where did Garden Water Fountains Begin? A water fountain is an architectural piece that pours water into a basin or jets it high into the air in order to provide drinking water, as well as for decorative purposes.From the beginning, outdoor fountains were soley there to serve as functional elements. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to provide them with drinking water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Up until the 19th century, fountains had to be higher and closer to a water supply, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to benefit from gravity which fed the fountains.
Fountains were not only used as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the designer who created it. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. Muslims and Moorish garden designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were supposed to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. Seventeen and 18 century Popes sought to laud their positions by including beautiful baroque-style fountains at the point where restored Roman aqueducts arrived into the city.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the increase in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Gravity was replaced by mechanical pumps in order to permit fountains to bring in clean water and allow for amazing water displays.
Modern-day fountains function mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational activities.
"Primitive" Greek Artistry: Outdoor Statuary
"Primitive" Greek Artistry: Outdoor Statuary The initial freestanding statuary was developed by the Archaic Greeks, a recognized achievement since until then the only carvings in existence were reliefs cut into walls and pillars. For the most part the statues, or kouros figures, were of young and 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 stiffness to their forward-facing poses; the male statues were always strapping, sinewy, and unclothed. In 650 BC, life-sized versions of the kouroi began to be seen. Throughout the Archaic period, a great time of change, the Greeks were developing new types of government, expressions of art, and a deeper awareness of people and cultures outside Greece. The Arcadian battles, the Spartan penetration of Samos, and other wars between city-states are examples of the types of battles that arose frequently, which is consistent with other times of historical transformation.