The Water Wall Fountains of Ceres
Of the Florentine Wall Fountains the Ceres is the most pleasing of the water wall fountains, and certainly one of Ammannati's more attractive works. A strong classical influence is patent, but also something of the fresh Florentine charm with which he imbued the classicizing water wall fountains of the Virgins of the Fonte Bassa at the Villa Giulia into the final fountain. The poses of the two streams of course reflect those of Michelangelo's reclining figures in the Medici Chapel. In the Hippocrene, this influence is particularly strong. The date of these statues is established as after 1556, by letters of that year in which the request of Ammannati for four pieces of marble with which to carve the last four figures for the wall fountain was presented to Cosimo, and granted; while Tanai dei Medici's letter of 1579 affords an open completion date. The first design of the water wall fountains was evidently completed before the letters of 1556.
In 1560 a wall fountain model was shown to Michelangelo, who in a letter to Cosimo I praised it highly: "The model of the great hall with the design of the wall fountain of Messer Bartolommeo that goes in that place. ... As for the water wall fountains, it seems to me a beautiful fancy and that it will work out admirably." The reuse of the figures at Pratolino and Boboli indicates that Michelangelo's enthusiasm was shared by his contemporaries. At Rome, as we have seen, the mostra designed by Domenico Fontana to mark the outlet of the new aqueduct constructed under Sixtus V was strongly influenced by the triple niche wall fountain which Ammannati had constructed for Julius III. Tn the Acqua Felice, however, the three niches are deepened and the inscription raised to the attic, until the whole approaches the form of ancient triumphal water wall fountains. Other examples of the triumphal arch type of water wall fountains, which enjoyed a special vogue at Rome and in its environs, are the Acqua Paola and certain water wall fountains at the Villa d'Este, Tivoli, and at the Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati
In all these Roman examples the wall fountains are addorsed. In a version of this type evolved at Naples, the resemblance to the ancient triumphal arch is carried still further; the fountain stands completely free. Two Neapolitan wall fountains of this type, which date from the early baroque period, must be considered here because they were executed by Florentine sculptors. However florid the detail of the Fontana dei Giganti, now situated on the Via Nazario Sauri, the fine marble of which it is constructed and its happy silhouette against the unsurpassable setting of the Neapolitan harbor disarm criticism. This wall fountain, decorated with figures by the Florentine sculptors Pietro Bernini and Michelangelo Naccherino, was completed in 1601.
Save for the great caryatids, usually attributed to Naccherino, the sculptural decoration is completely in the round. In the even more profusely decorated Fontana di Santa Lucia in the Villa Nazionale, the triple division is retained, but only the central arch is left open. The additional surface on the wall fountain is gained but covered closely with reliefs depicting the fruits of the sea. In place of the present basin supported by dolphins, the central arch was originally decorated by figures of sirens, spouting from their mouths and breasts. Although the inscription indicates that this wall fountain was dedicated in 1606, documents prove that the Florentine sculptor Michelangelo Naccherino and a certain Tomtnaso Montani, of whom little is known, were employed in its decoration as late as 1607.
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