Rome, Gian Bernini, And Garden Fountains

Rome, Gian Bernini, And Garden Fountains There are numerous renowned fountains in the city center of Rome. One of the most distinguished sculptors and designers of the 17th century, Gian Lorenzo Bernini fashioned, conceived and built nearly all of them. He was also a city architect, in addition to his skills as a water fountain engineer, and records of his life's work are evident throughout the streets of Rome. A celebrated Florentine sculptor, Bernini's father guided his young son, and they ultimately moved to Rome to fully exhibit their art, chiefly in the form of community water fountains and water fountains. The young Bernini was an exemplary worker and attained encouragement and patronage of important artists as well as popes. At the beginning he was recognized for his sculptural abilities. Most particularly in the Vatican, he made use of a base of expertise in historical Greek architecture and melded it seamlessly with Roman marble. He was influenced by many great artists, however, Michelangelo had the biggest impact on his work.

Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains

Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Most Impressive Water Fountains The Barcaccia, Bernini's first fountain, is a magnificent chef d'oeuvre built at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, you will see Roman locals and vacation goers occupying this space to revel in chit chatter and being among other people. Today, the city streets around Bernini's water fountain are a trendy area where people go to gather, something which the artist would have been pleased to learn. The master's very first fountain of his career was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. The fountain’s central theme is based on an enormous ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean. Bernini: Genius Behind Italy's Impressive Water Fountains 18665482623.jpg

Bernini: Genius Behind Italy's Impressive Water Fountains 18665482623.jpg

Period writings dating back to the 16th century show that the fountain was built as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the great flooding of the Tevere. In 1665 Bernini traveled to France, in what was to be his sole extended absence from Italy.

Rome’s First Water Transport Solutions

With the building of the very first raised aqueduct in Rome, the Aqua Anio Vetus in 273 BC, folks who lived on the city’s hills no longer had to be dependent only on naturally-occurring spring water for their needs. Throughout this period, there were only two other systems capable of offering water to higher areas, subterranean wells and cisterns, which amassed rainwater. From the early sixteenth century, water was routed to Pincian Hill through the subterranean channel of Acqua Vergine. Through its initial building and construction, pozzi (or manholes) were located at set intervals alongside the aqueduct’s channel. During the roughly 9 years he possessed the residential property, from 1543 to 1552, Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi used these manholes to take water from the network in buckets, though they were previously established for the intent of maintaining and maintenance the aqueduct. He didn’t get enough water from the cistern that he had established on his residential property to gather rainwater. Thankfully, the aqueduct sat below his property, and he had a shaft opened to give him accessibility.

Garden Fountain Designers Through History

Garden Fountain Designers Through History Garden Fountain Designers History 72238186794730.jpg

Multi-talented people, fountain artists from the 16th to the late 18th century often served as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one. Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance artist, was renowned as an inventive intellect, inventor and scientific master. He systematically registered his examinations in his now much celebrated notebooks about his investigations into the forces of nature and the attributes and movement of water. Early Italian water fountain builders altered private villa configurations into innovative water exhibits full of emblematic meaning and natural beauty by coupling imagination with hydraulic and gardening expertise. The humanist Pirro Ligorio provided the vision behind the splendors in Tivoli and was recognized for his virtuosity in archeology, architecture and garden design. Masterminding the excellent water marbles, water attributes and water antics for the numerous estates near Florence, other fountain designers were well versed in humanist subjects as well as classical technical texts.