The Pope was not satisfied with the first 30 designs for the Trevi Fountain
This Paolo Benaglia person might bring a bit of light relief to the long story of the Trevi fountain because, in 1728, on being faced with Monsignor Jacopo Sardini, the downright dictatorial President for the Aqua Vergine, he was obliged to sign a very exacting contract before the notary. With this straitjacket he bound himself hand and foot to carry out the whims of the noble monsignor not only in regard to the construction of the whole fountain, but also in respect of the payment the prelate would “kindly dispense… without my being able to claim or question… in any manner whatever anything he has determined… being obliged and willing to stand by what he fixes, without objection, and so I do promise…”.
Luckily for us, while Sardini, perhaps for political reasons, was dismissed, with the election of the new pontiff Clement XII (Corsini), in 1730 “work on the statues for the Trevi fountain sketched by Benaglia” was suspended and “new plans were being made”. This was the beginning of what might be called the last episode of the Trevi’s varied life story, while poor Benaglia was almost gagged and, instead of all the work he should have done, had to be content with just the crest of Clement XII flanked by the usual two angels that can still be seen flying high up on the fountain. So, although Clement XII had set aside the Neapolitan wood carver and rejected one design after another, he was still determined to bring the fountain to a dignified end. In 1730 he invited four architects to take up the task; unfortunately we do not know their names. All we can say with certainty is that a Frenchman, Edme Bouchardon, presented two sketches and although these were not in the competition, according to an interesting letter from the artist himself, the Pope would have chosen one of them if the usual intrigues had not taken place – but then everyone who loses a competition says that. Anyway, it’s not surprising because, in 1732, according to his biographer, the other Frenchman, the architect Lambert-Sigisbert Adam the Elder, declared that he had won.
Whatever the case may be, it seems that the pontiff was still not satisfied with the 30 or more models and sketches he had on display in the galleries at the palace on Montecavallo if, in 1732, he considered another seventeen. But this time things seemed to be going well. As usual, Valesio, who always had the latest information, noted: “Wednesday 6 August 1732. His Beatitude has had many designs created for the ornamentation of the Trevi fountain in addition to those made at other times, and has chosen one of the finest, the one by Vanvitelli, [the architect] who had made another [design] for the façade of St. John Lateran which [also] was said to be among the finest”. At this point you may be exclaiming, “At last!” but no, we’re not there yet. Despite Luigi Vanvitelli’s success, about three weeks later, Valesio provided the following “trailer”: “Tuesday, 16 September 1732. His Beatitude approved the order for 17,000 scudi for the Trevi fountain, and the design chosen is the one by Salvi”. Next Trevi Completion Page...
