Adapted to the Flavor of the City
So much has been said by writers of all kinds and of every century about a fountain which, when it had only just been inaugurated, gave rise to floods of verses, poems and hymns of praise and earned Bernini a reward of 4000 scudi, that I would be wasting my time and probably putting myself at risk to give my own opinion on it. Risk, because, if I dared to talk about the details of the four rivers fountain, which is doubtless Gian Lorenzo’s most sensational work, is as heavy and careless as the whole is marvellous and masterly I should certainly be at the mercy of everyone’s tongues. In fact, I can admire the boldness of the idea for many reasons, not least for its success in planting the magnificent obelisk atop that uneven rockface a feat that almost defies the law of gravity. Most of all, I admire Bernini’s ability to adapt the four rivers fountain to the atmosphere of a city center: when all is said and done, the species was bred for totally different environment. So how could I even begin to talk of the heaviness of the fountains (so unusual in this artist’s work) and the fact that the four colossal and in my opinion rather flabby statues of rivers are hardly original? Two of their heads are almost identical and a third that looks very much like the one carved on one of the two coats-of arms. How could I dare to point out that the attitude assumed by these four rivers, all four with the right leg raised but facing in different directions a trick to avoid a kind of continuous chorus line around those marvellous rocks fails in its purpose and instead looks trite, and sometimes completely illogical? And wouldn’t I be accused of blasphemy if I took the risk of saying that it only needs another inch or two of neck on that rearing horse with the over-heavy chest to turn it into a giraffe? But I wouldn’t dare to make those or any other minor criticisms. Instead, I’ll devote my words to the tall and magnificent palm tree, just barely bending to the wind, which is perhaps the only note of realism (and not theatricality) in the whole work; and to the strong life-like quality of the rockface quite rightly celebrated with the wide watery curtains, like so many sheets of crystal, springing from its crevices: the whole composition of this imposing fountain is a truly a masterpiece of theatrical art.
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