Page 1: Across the Square from the Fountain of the Moor
Having spent so much space in this site on the Fountain of the Moor, let’s now go to the northern end of the square, to the one that used to be called the Calderari – "The Boilermakers’ [or Coppersmiths’] Fountain" – because of "the many workshops of the sort that used to exist in and around the nearby lane". This account will be somewhat shorter than the last for two reasons: firstly, we have already seen how the fountain originated at the same time (1574) and in the same way as the other fountains in Piazza Navona, so we are already familiar with its period; and secondly, because these fountains were always forgotten when it came to statuary. In fact, della Porta himself did it the first wrong when, in a change of plan, he decided to put the four comical masks ordered for this fountain on the one at the Pantheon fountain instead.
As a result, this fountain must have made a fairly poor impression for long enough, since all it had were a few streams of water from four insignificant little statuary pillars at the sides and, in the centre, a jet of water from a ball placed on top of a stumpy white marble column. Then, whilst its lucky "sister" had the honor – thanks to being so close to the Palazzo Pamphili and Lady Olimpia’s habit of looking out of the window – of being decorated with the statue by Bernini and, moreover, underwent alterations, although our fountain was also modified to the same overall design, it remained completely without ornament, almost as if no one could be bothered with it. Indeed, it was exactly 300 years after its birth that someone finally took notice of the poor abandoned fountain.
On 11 June 1873, the Rome City Authorities put up posters on the city walls with the "Announcement of an Fountain Competition" to "complete and decorate the fountain known as the ‘Calderari’ ". The prize was 5000 lire for the best fountain model, but there was no commitment to implement it. The proclamation stated that although free to enter a design of their choice, competitors should submit "a fountain with a statue or central group sufficiently proportioned as to height and "movement" as to harmonise favorably with the Fountain of the Moor that is admired for the skillful 16th century Triton statues and for Bernini’s most outstanding Ethiopian. Additional decorations of the fountain should also be arranged with this in mind". It was only natural that the Authorities, in their wisdom, were concerned that the new decorations should resemble in some way the statue by the "Famous Fountain Designer Bernini".
There were ten entrants of fountain models, but as has already happened – and I hope you won’t hold it against me – I have only been able to discover seven of them in the documents about the competition in the Capitol Archives. The other three are simply not mentioned. For what it’s worth, here are the names of the seven I found: Maioli, Falcioni, Dies, Fabi Altini, Galletti, Zappala and Della Bitta. All are more or less well known as fountain designers, but you can forget about three of them because we are only interested in the first, and in the last two.
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