A Chronicle of Wall Fountains

A Chronicle of Wall Fountains The translation of hundreds of ancient Greek texts into Latin was commissioned by the scholarly Pope Nicholas V who led the Church in Rome from 1397 till 1455. In order to make Rome deserving of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope resolved to enhance the beauty of the city. At the behest of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a ruined aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was restored starting in 1453. The ancient Roman tradition of marking the arrival point of an aqueduct with an imposing celebratory fountain, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was once occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and built by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The aqueduct he had reconditioned included modifications and extensions which eventually enabled it to supply water to the Trevi Fountain as well as the famed baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona.

Ancient Greece: The Inception of Outdoor Statue Design

Ancient Greece: The Inception of Outdoor Statue Design In the past, most sculptors were paid by the temples to embellish the elaborate columns and archways with renderings of the gods, but as the era came to a close it grew to be more accepted for sculptors to portray ordinary people as well simply because many Greeks had begun to think of their religion as superstitious rather than sacred. Portraiture, which would be acknowledged by the Romans upon their annexation of Greek civilization became customary as well, and wealthy family members would sometimes commission a portrait of their forebears to be situated in immense familial tombs. The use of sculpture and other art forms varied over the years of The Greek Classical period, a duration of artistic growth when the arts had more than one objective. Greek sculpture is perhaps appealing to us nowadays as it was an avant-garde experiment in the ancient world, so it doesn't matter whether or not its original purpose was religious zeal or artistic pleasure.