Trevi Fountain: Imitaton of the Four Rivers Fountain?
Now, if a number of scholars have quite correctly pointed to the many common themes between this “engine” and the Trevi fountain, I think we can conclude with total certainty that Salvi had this same design by Gian Lorenzo in front of him on two very different occasions: the first time, in 1728, when he was building this “engine” and the second, during the competition for the Trevi fountain in 1732. And I am tempted to think that the design we are examining probably belonged to Salvi and was copied for him from Bernini’s original no later than 1721. Furthermore, how close Salvi’s fountain remained to that of his “hero” is also shown by the fact that, of the five designs he submitted for the competition, as well as the mock-up that was actually made (but we only know the later wooden model, another design is known to have survived. This came into the possession (possibly as a gift) of a French artist who, in 1753, substituted the arms of the King of France for those of the Corsini pope and although it portrays a project of minor importance, the architecture still follows the principles Bernini established. After all that has been said so far, it seems almost unnecessary to make further comparisons or insist on the fact that the whole of Salvi's architectural composition, with a few necessary variations, is definitely the same as the one shown in Gian
Lorenzo’s design: the same Corinthian columns flanking the identical large niche decorated with festoons; the same windows (even if they are arranged in a different pattern), with the identical little balustrade alternating with Corinthian pilasters; the crowned statues, some spaced out along the wings, some grouped in the central section. It is particularly interesting to note that, in addition to the motif of the two bas-reliefs above the two niches with their respective statues, Salvi – as if to be even more true to his model (which had as many as eight windows per wing) – refused to be satisfied with the three windows on each side that were all the limited space allowed, but wanted ideally to extend his façade vertically on either side of the fountain, from the entablature right down to the rocks, with another two tiers of windows alternating with another three identical pilasters, as you can see in the engraving and in the wooden model of the fountain kept in the Museo di Roma, which both portray the fountain he would have liked to build and most of which he did build.
Given that others have already said so much on the subject, I think there is no need to insist upon the way the wonderful rocks (absent, at least, from Bernini’s second design of the Trevi Fountain), enlivened everywhere by plants, bushes and snakes, constantly imitate those in the Four Rivers fountain. Next Page...
