Attributes of Garden Sculpture in Archaic Greece
Attributes of Garden Sculpture in Archaic Greece The Archaic Greeks developed the first freestanding statuary, an awesome achievement as most sculptures up until then had been reliefs cut into walls and pillars. Youthful, ideal male or female (kore) Greeks were the subject matter of most of the statues, or kouros figures. Symbolizing beauty to the Greeks, the kouroi were created to appear stiff and typically had foot forward; the males were healthy, sturdy, and nude. In 650 BC, life-sized variations of the kouroi began to be seen. The Archaic period was an incredible time of transformation for the Greeks as they extended into new modes of government, produced novel expressions of art, and gained insights of the men and women and cultures outside of Greece. Battles like The Arcadian wars, the Spartan invasion of Samos, and other wars involving city-states are suggestive of the tumultuous nature of the time, which was similar to other periods of historical disturbance. However, these conflicts did not significantly hinder the advancement of the Greek civilization.Modern Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots
Modern Garden Decor: Fountains and their Roots The incredible construction 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 complement your home.
Pure functionality was the original role of fountains. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Used until the nineteenth century, in order for fountains to flow or shoot up into the air, their origin of water such as reservoirs or aqueducts, had to be higher than the water fountain in order to benefit from gravity. Fountains were not only utilized as a water source for drinking water, but also to decorate homes and celebrate the artist who created it. Roman fountains usually depicted images of animals or heroes made of metal or stone masks. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France wanted to demonstrate his superiority over nature by including fountains in the Gardens of Versailles. 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 location where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
The end of the nineteenth century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to provide drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity helped fountains to provide recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Decorating city parks, honoring people or events and entertaining, are some of the functions of modern-day fountains.