Art in Architecture

Fountains

Prof. Dr. S.A.V.Elanchezian

 Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 - 1680) A Roman
who, with the rarely asked-about Francesco
Borromini, defined the Baroque movement in
sculpture. Bernini is principally known for his
freestanding works including David and The
Ecstasy of St. Theresa. Bernini's David differs
from that of Michelangelo in that the hero is
shown "in motion," having twisted his body to
sling the rock. Bernini is also known for his
massive fountains in Rome including
the Triton and the Fountain of the Four Rivers
Triton Fountain by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in Piazza Barberini, Rome
Triton Fountain
 Triton Fountain
• Fontana del Tritone (Triton Fountain) is a seventeenth-
century fountain in Rome, by the Baroque sculptor
Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Commissioned by his patron,
Pope Urban VIII, the fountain is located in the Piazza
Barberini, near the entrance to the Palazzo Barberini
(which now houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte
Antica) that Bernini helped to design and construct for
the Barberini Urban's family. This fountain should be
distinguished from the nearby Fontana dei Tritoni
(Fountain of the Tritons) by Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri
in Piazza Bocca della Verità which features two Tritons.
• Already Triton, at his call, appears Above the waves; a Tyrian robe
he wears; And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears. The sovereign
bids him peaceful sounds inspire, And give the waves the signal to
retire. His writhen shell he takes; whose narrow vent Grows by
degrees into a large extent, Then gives it breath; the blast with
doubling sound, Runs the wide circuit of the world around: The sun
first heard it, in his early east, And met the rattling ecchos in the
west. The waters, list'ning to the trumpet's roar, Obey the summons,
and forsake the shore. —free translation by Sir Samuel Garth, John
Dryden, et al.. Two finished terracotta bozzetti at the Detroit
Institute of Arts, securely attributed to Bernini, reflect his
exploration of the fountain's themes of the intertwined upended
dolphins and the muscular, scaly-tailed Triton.
• The Tritone, the first of Bernini's free-standing
urban fountains, was erected to provide water
from the Acqua Felice aqueduct which Urban had
restored, in a dramatic celebration. It was
Bernini's last major commission from his great
patron who died in 1644. At the Triton Fountain,
Urban and Bernini brought the idea of a
sculptural fountain, familiar from villa gardens,
decisively to a public urban setting for the first
time; previous public fountains in the city of
Rome had been passive basins for the reception
of public water.
• The fountain was executed in travertine in 1642–43. At its
centre rises a larger than life-size muscular Triton, a minor
sea god of ancient Greco-Roman legend, depicted as a
merman kneeling on the sum of four dolphin tailfins. His
head is thrown back and his arms raise a conch to his lips;
from it a jet of water spurts, formerly rising dramatically
higher than it does today. The fountain has a base of four
dolphins that entwine the papal tiara with crossed keys and
the heraldic Barberini bees in their scaly tails.[
• Bernini has represented the triton to illustrate the
triumphant passage from Ovid's Metamorphoses book I,
evoking godlike control over the waters and describing the
draining away of the Universal Deluge.
Piazzo Navano – The fountain of For River
Fountain of Bees
• Bernini built the Fountain of the Bees in 1644 so
there would be a fountain in Piazza Barberini
small enough for people and animals to drink out
of, since the Triton Fountain was too large for
this. It is located just steps from the Barberini
metro stop. The fountain uses shells for its
inscription plaque and basin, like the Triton
Fountain and contains three Barberini Bees. The
bees become spouts for people to drink from,
and the shell becomes a trough for animals.
The Fountain of Four Rivers – West Side
The Fountain of Four Rivers – East Side
The fountain of Four River – North side
Full view of the Fountain of Four River
 The Fountain of Four River

• The four rivers in the name of the fountain refer

to great rivers in four continents: the Nile River
in Africa, the Danube River in Europe, the
Ganges River in Asia, and the Rio de la Plata
in the Americas. The rivers represented by each
four figures on the fountain can easily be
identified. The head of the figure representing
the Nile is covered by a cloth because nobody at
the time knew where headwaters of the Nile
originated.
• The figure representing the Danube is touching the
Papal Coat of Arms since the Danube is the river
closest to Rome. The figure representing the Ganges
carries an oar, showing that the Ganges is
navigable. Finally, the figure representing the Rio de
la Plata (River of Silver) is sitting on a pile of silver
coins and cowering in fright from a snake that may
want to steal the coins.
Fountain of Neptune
 Fountain of Neptune
• The Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) is a fountain
in Rome, Italy, located at the north end of the Piazza Navona. It was once
called "Fontana dei Calderari" because it was located close to a small alley
with blacksmith's workshops, makers of pots and pans and of other metal
based businesses, all of them generating heat.
• Nineteenth-century infrastructure developments reduced dependence on
urban fountains for drinking and washing purposes but increased their
visual and political importance, especially following the creation of
the Italian state with Rome as its capital after 1870. The fountain as it
exists today was finally completed in 1878 by Antonio della Bitta, who
added the imposing sculpture of "Neptune fighting with an octopus",
and Gregorio Zappalà, who created the other sculptures, based on the
mythological theme of the "Nereids with cupids and walruses". This
statuary was added following a competition in 1873, in order to balance
that of the Moor Fountain on the south side of the piazza and of
the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) at its centre.
• The restoration of the Roman Aqua Virgo aqueduct in 1570 was
immediately followed by the start of work on a continuation water
supply pipe towards the district of the old Campo Marzio, which
following the diminution of the city's size and importance was left
as the most densely populated part of the city. Restoration of a
piped water supply in turn permitted the construction of several
public fountains. The basin of the Fontana del Nettuno, (without
the sculptures) was designed in 1574 by Giacomo Della Porta, who
was also responsible for the Moor Fountain at the other side of the
square. It was sponsored by pope Gregory XIII. The lower part of
the basin consists of white marble and the upper part of the local
stone from Pietrasanta. For the next 300 years, the fountain
survived without statues.
The Moor Fountain
Close up view
 The Moor Fountain

• The Moor Fountain is located at the southern end

of Piazza Navona, and shows a muscular
Ethiopian standing in a conch shell wrestling with
a dolphin and surrounded by four Tritons, all in a
basin of antique rose-colored marble. The
fountain was originally designed by Giacomo
della Porta in 1575 during the reign of Pope
Gregory XIII Boncompagni, with the dolphin and
four Tritons blowing water out through shells. In
1653, Pope Innocent X Pamphilj asked Gian
Lorenzo Bernini to add the statue of the Moor in
the center.
• Bernini designed that sculpture, but it was
actually sculpted by Giannantonio Mari.
During a restoration of the fountain in 1874,
the original statues were moved to a small
square in Villa Borghese and replaced with
copies made by Luigi Amici. On September 3,
2011, a vandal repeatedly hit one of the
statues with a stone or a hammer, damaging
one of its ears.
• The Piazza Navona is a public plaza located on the
site of the former Stadium of Domitian, popularly
known as the Circus Agonalis. The centerpiece of
the square is the Fountain of the Four Rivers
(Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi) by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini. The Obelisk of Domitian dominates the
center of the fountain. The piazza is dominated
by the baroque church of Sant’Agnese in
Agone. The epithet “in Agone” refers to the
Circus Agonalis, the site where Saint Agnes was
martyred.
• This public drinking fountain was built in 1644 and is the most famous of
Bernini’s three bee fountains. It was originally located in the Piazza
Barberini at the corner of Via Sistina until 1887. This was to preserve the
fountain from being trampled by traffic on this narrow street. In 1919, the
fountain was relocated to its present location at the corner of Via Vittorio
Veneto and the Via S. Basilio. • The Fountain of the Bees was sponsored
by Pope Urban VIII. The three bees belong to the armorial bearings of the
Barberini family to which Urban VIII belonged. This fountain was inspired
by the original bee fountain built by Francesco Borromini found in the
Vatican wall. • The fountain displays three oversized bees at the edge of a
huge fan- shaped shell. The bees are depicted as if they are drinking in the
water that is being released by the jets in the fountain. This was also
behind “the idea of the Barberini bees emitting ‘honey-water,’ just as their
master Urban spoke and wrote ‘honeyed words.’” Also, the inscription on
the inner surface of the open shell records that it was erected by
command of Pope Urban VIII only two months before his death. • Due to
hard wear, moving, dismantling and weathering, only the central bee and
piece of shell on which it stands are the original work