Page 3 of the Public Fountains of Rome
Visions of sparkling water and lucent marble, between beds of flowers; or as in the grandiose later-Renaissance fountains, where tritons wind their conches with swelling cheeks, and nymph and naiad enring the chariot of Neptune drawn by strange sea beasts; or, again, where gods and goddesses attitudinise with futtering draperies above the place where the water spouts forth in ceaseless flood with a noise as of a cascade; or where the simple basin without ornament, moss-grown and water-stained, overflows with noiseless trickle beneath the shade of the ilex trees; basins of quaint shapes and unfamiliar material and appearance, supported by single figures or groups; designs so informal as to be almost licentious, or so purely architectural as to be a trifle frigid; broadly spreading surfaces of lovely marble checkered with shadow from overhanging trees, or elaborate pieces of interwoven metal-work standing boldly out in the marketplace.
All these, and many more, pass before the mind in endless panorama, while one almost seems to hear the jingle of the bells as the horses or mules shake their heads and plunge their noses in the cool water with which man and beast wash the dust from their parched throats; or the chatter of the women as they linger, bright spots 
of color with kerchief and apron, and the tinkle of the water as the water-pots fill; while pigeons flutter and splash in the upper basin, or circle round on widespread pinions, waiting till the fountain be again left solitary." Writers on architecture have made numerous attempts to classify fountains into more specific categories than those afforded by the broad general divisions of the architectural styles; but no such attempt has proved at all conclusive. The features of which fountains may be composed are so many, and the ways in which these features may be combined are so various, that it is more likely that any given example, other than the very simplest, will fall between two such classifications than fit completely within the bounds of any rigid definition of a type. No classification has, therefore, been attempted in the present paper; the subsequent brief descriptions merely follow the order of the illustrations. The Fountain of the Tortoises, with its graceful design of bronze youths, tortoises and dolphins, is one of the most charming in Rome. Indeed, it is not surprising that the design was for long attributed to Raphael, although actually it is the work of Giacomo della Porta, an architect who did much work in Rome. The statues of the Fountain of the Ocean in the Boboli Gardens, Florence, are by Giovanni da Bologna.
 |
 |
 |