Page 5 of the Public Fountains of Italy
The most sumptuous of all the fountains by Bernini, that eminent builder of fountains, is that of the Four Rivers, at Rome. This majestic composition, from which rises a pyramid (not included in the illustration) shows, seated on a group of cunningly handled rocks, four gods, representing rivers of the four quarters of the globe. A simple but very effective fountain behind the Pitti Palace, Florence, adorns one end of the amphitheater used for public festivities, and beyond can be seen the rising terraces of the Boboli Gardens. The exquisitely-graceful fountain in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, was designed by Vasari; but the beautiful little figure of the cupid holding a dolphin which surmounts it is by Verrocchio. This figure was not originally made for the fountain; but when the Palazzo Vecchio was renovated for the wedding of Joanna of Austria and Franceso dei Medici, the statue was taken from the garden of Lorenzo the Magnificent, which it then adorned, and placed here.
Rather overly ornate in character and overladen with allegorical figures and bas-reliefs, the Fountain of Montorsoli at Messina is nevertheless light and effective in general aspect. It was executed between 1547 and 1551. The Fountain of Neptune at Bologna was designed by a painter, Tommaso Lauretti, but owes its chief celebrity to the very dignified statue of Neptune which surmounts it. This statue was executed by Giovanni da Bologna, plainly working under the influence of Michelangelo, and is considered his masterpiece.
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