The Politics of Roman Fountains
But, you may well protest, there is no obelisk in the unpublished drawing, whereas we know as indeed I have already said that the few Four Rivers Fountain designs we know of that the architects presented to Innocent X, including the two by Bernini excluded from the competition, all show the obelisk, which the Pope ordered to be put up after he had been to see it in April 1647. It’s a fair objection, which I will counter with a document dated August 1645 from the Capitoline Archives. Though there is only a minor reference to the four rivers fountain, this shows clearly how Bernini (who, in April that year, had been passed over for Borromini for the job of bringing water to the square), tried to ingratiate himself at all costs with the pontiff, even offering to provide the money for the work. Here is the text of the document: From Rome, 23 August 1645. His Lordship is thinking of having the water from the Trevi Fountain brought to Piazza Navona, where it will look very well with the Structures that are to be built to further ennoble the City. And because it will take 30,000 scudi to construct the main water conduit, Cav. Bernino has offered to give the said sum, provided that he can buy the return water once it has been used in Piazza Navona, and an agreement to that effect has been made with him for that quantity. And you can reckon that by granting the return [water] to private citizens he will guarantee the money he is giving now and will also profit wholesale. It seems that the main intention of this anonymous writer is to emphasise Bernini’s shrewd business tactics; nonetheless, what we should really see in this report is the means the artist used (in vain), not just to ingratiate himself with Innocent, but to obtain the commission for installing the water conduits and, therefore, the corresponding display fountain in the square. Therefore, with high hopes that his clever move would succeed, in 1645 Gian Lorenzo must also have prepared the design for a circular fountain (the only kind suitable for that square) with a great jet of water gushing high up from the top. After the Pope’s decision in 1647, he substituted the obelisk for the jet of water and modified the four rivers fountain design accordingly.
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