A Chronicle of Wall Fountains

A Chronicle of Wall Fountains Chronicle Wall Fountains 74834325073.jpg

Himself a highly educated man, Pope Nicholas V headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 till 1455 and was responsible for the translation of hundreds of ancient texts from their original Greek into Latin. It was imperative for him to beautify the city of Rome to make it worthy of being called the capital of the Christian world. At the bidding of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a ruined aqueduct which had transported clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was renovated starting in 1453. The ancient Roman tradition of marking the entry point of an aqueduct with an magnificent celebratory fountain, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The architect Leon Battista Alberti was commissioned by the Pope to put up a wall fountain where we now find the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain as well as the well-known baroque fountains found in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona were eventually supplied with water from the modified aqueduct he had rebuilt.

"Primitive" Greek Artistry: Outdoor Statuary

Up right up until the Archaic Greeks created the very first freestanding statuary, a noteworthy success, carvings had mainly been accomplished in walls and pillars as reliefs. Most of these freestanding sculptures were what is known as kouros figures, statues of young, attractive male or female (kore) Greeks. Regarded as by Greeks to characterize beauty, the kouroi were formed into inflexible, forward facing poses with one foot outstretched, and the male statues were usually nude, well-built, and athletic. In 650 BC, life-sized versions of the kouroi began to be observed. The Archaic period was turbulent for the Greeks as they progressed into more refined forms of federal government and art, and acquired more information about the peoples and civilizations outside of Greece. Conflicts like The Arcadian wars, the Spartan invasion of Samos, and other wars involving city-states are suggestive of the disruptive 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.