Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Greatest Fountains
Bernini: The Genius Behind Italy's Greatest Fountains One can see Bernini's earliest masterpiece, the Barcaccia water fountain, at the base of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. To this day, you will see Roman residents and vacation goers filling this area to revel in chit chatter and being among other people. Bernini would undoubtedly have been happy to know that people still flock to what has become one the city's most fashionable areas, that surrounding his amazing water fountain. The master's very first fountain of his professional life was built at around 1630 at the behest of Pope Urbano VIII. An enormous ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean is the fountain's main theme. The great 16th century flooding of the Tevere, which left the entire region inundated with water, was memorialized by the water fountain according to documents from the period. In what became his only prolonged absence from Italy, Bernini {journeyed | traveled] to France in 1665.Modern Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Roots
Modern Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Roots 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 enhance your home.The central purpose of a fountain was originally strictly practical. Water fountains were linked to a spring or aqueduct to provide potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Until the late 19th, century most water fountains functioned using 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. Acting as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also supplied clean, fresh drinking water. Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized by Romans to beautify their fountains. To replicate the gardens of paradise, Muslim and Moorish garden planners of the Middle Ages added fountains to their designs. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were supposed to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. To mark the entrance of the restored Roman aqueducts, the Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries commissioned the building of baroque style fountains in the spot where the aqueducts entered the city of Rome
Indoor plumbing became the main source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby restricting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity allowed fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
These days, fountains decorate public areas and are used to honor individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
Bernini's Water Fountains
Bernini's Water Fountains
In Rome’s city center, there are countless famous water fountains. One of the finest sculptors and artists of the 17th century, virtually all of them were planned, conceptualized and constructed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Traces of his life's work are evident all through the streets of Rome simply because, in addition to his abilities as a fountain builder, he was also a city architect. A renowned Florentine sculptor, Bernini's father guided his young son, and they eventually transferred to Rome to totally express their artwork, chiefly in the form of community water fountains and water features. The juvenile Bernini was an exemplary employee and received compliments and patronage of important artists as well as popes. He was originally renowned for his sculpture. An expert in historical Greek architecture, he used this knowledge as a starting point and melded it gracefully with Roman marble, most notably in the Vatican. He was influenced by many great artists, however, Michelangelo had the biggest effect on his work.
Ancient Greece: The Inception of Garden Statue Design
Ancient Greece: The Inception of Garden Statue Design Even though many sculptors were paid by the temples to embellish the elaborate columns and archways with renderings of the gods, as the period came to a close, it became more common for sculptors to portray ordinary people as well mainly because plenty of Greeks had started to think of their religion as superstitious rather than sacred. Portraiture, which would be acknowledged by the Romans upon their annexation of Greek society became customary as well, and thriving families would often commission a portrayal of their forebears to be added in immense familial tombs. It is amiss to think that the arts had one purpose throughout The Classical Greek period, a duration of innovative achievement during which the use of sculpture and alternative art forms evolved.
Greek sculpture is probably fascinating to us nowadays as it was an avant-garde experiment in the historic world, so it doesn't make a difference whether its original purpose was religious zeal or artistic enjoyment.