Fountains as a Synthesis of Sculpture, Water, and Land
by Nancy DeJesus
page 16
Italian sculptor and architect Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598 -1680) created fountains that were at once functional and aesthetic, and for the first time in Rome brought magnificent fountains found in urban villas to public squares. His travertine Fountain of the Triton (c.1643) stands in the Piazza Barberini, adorning the approach to the Barberini palace. The fountain was the terminus of an aqueduct that served as the water supply for the palace and nearby area. Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII, of the Barberini family, the fountain commemorated and glorified his papacy and paid tribute to the aqueduct built in antiquity and successfully restored by Urban.
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