The Genesis Of Fountains
The Genesis Of Fountains The incredible construction 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.Originally, fountains only served a functional purpose. Water fountains were connected to a spring or aqueduct to provide potable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Until the late nineteenth, 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. Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to adorn living areas and memorialize the artist. Bronze or stone masks of animals and heroes were frequently seen on Roman fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create mini variations of the gardens of paradise. To demonstrate his prominence over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to exalt the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.
The end of the 19th century saw the rise in usage of indoor plumbing to supply drinking water, so urban fountains were relegated to purely decorative elements. Gravity was substituted by mechanical pumps in order to enable fountains to bring in clean water and allow for beautiful water displays.
Modern-day fountains serve mostly as decoration for community spaces, to honor individuals or events, and enhance entertainment and recreational activities.
Archaic Greek Artwork: Garden Statuary
Archaic Greek Artwork: Garden Statuary The initial freestanding sculpture was developed by the Archaic Greeks, a recognized achievement since until then the sole carvings in existence were reliefs cut into walls and pillars. For the most part the statues, or kouros figures, were of young and nice-looking male or female (kore) Greeks. Symbolizing beauty to the Greeks, the kouroi were designed to look rigid and typically had foot in front; the males were healthy, sturdy, and nude.
Around 650 BC, life-sized models of the kouroi began to be seen. The Archaic period was an awesome point of transformation for the Greeks as they expanded into new forms of government, formed novel expressions of art, and gained insights of the people and cultures outside of Greece. Battles like The Arcadian wars, the Spartan invasion of Samos, and other wars involving city-states are indicative of the disruptive nature of the time period, which was similar to other periods of historical upset. However, these conflicts did not significantly hinder the advancement of the Greek civilization.