Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi | |
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Fountain | |
The Fountain of the Four Rivers with the Obelisco Agonale | |
Design | Gian Lorenzo Bernini |
Location | Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy |
Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
Coordinates: 41°53′56″N 12°28′23″E / 41.89889°N 12.47306°E |
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) is a fountain in the
Description
The base of the fountain is a basin from the centre of which travertine rocks rise to support four river gods and above them, a copy of an Egyptian obelisk surmounted with the Pamphili family emblem of a dove with an olive twig. Collectively, they represent four major rivers of the four continents through which papal authority had spread: the Nile representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe, the Ganges representing Asia, and the Río de la Plata representing the Americas.
Design
Bernini's design was selected in competition. The circumstances of his victory are described as follows in Filippo Baldinucci's The life of Cavaliere Bernini (1682):
So strong was the sinister influence of the rivals of Bernini on the mind of Innocent that when he planned to set up in Piazza Navona the great obelisk brought to Rome by the Emperor Caracalla, which had been buried for a long time at Capo di Bove for the adornment of a magnificent fountain, the Pope had designs made by the leading architects of Rome without an order for one to Bernini. Prince Niccolò Ludovisi, whose wife was niece to the pope, persuaded Bernini to prepare a model, and arrange for it to be secretly installed in a room in the Palazzo Pamphili that the Pope had to pass. When the meal was finished, seeing such a noble creation, he stopped almost in ecstasy. Being prince of the keenest judgment and the loftiest ideas, after admiring it, said: "This is a trick … It will be necessary to employ Bernini in spite of those who do not wish it, for he who desires not to use Bernini’s designs, must take care not to see them."[1]
Public fountains in Rome served multiple purposes: first, they were highly needed sources of water for neighbors in the centuries prior to home plumbing. Second, they were monuments to the papal patrons. Earlier Bernini fountains had been the
Allegories of the Four Rivers | |||
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River Ganges
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River Nile
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River
de la Plata |
River Danube
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Each has animals and plants that further carry forth identification, and each carries a certain number of
The obelisk, made of
The dynamic fusion of architecture and sculpture made this fountain revolutionary when compared to prior Roman projects, such as the stilted designs
Unveiling
The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi was unveiled to the populace of Rome on 12 June 1651. According to a report from the time,
The author of the report, Antonio Bernal, takes his readers through the hours leading up to the unveiling. The celebrations were announced by a woman, dressed as the allegorical character of Fame, being paraded around the streets of Rome on a carriage or float. She was sumptuously dressed, with wings attached to her back and a long trumpet in her hand. Bernal notes that "she went gracefully through all the streets and all the districts that are found among the seven hills of Rome, often blowing the round bronze [the trumpet], and urging everyone to make their way to that famous Piazza." A second carriage followed her; this time another woman was dressed as the allegorical figure of Curiosity. According to the report, she continued exhorting the people to go towards the piazza. Bernal describes the clamour and noise of the people as they discussed the upcoming event.
The report is actually less detailed about the process of publicly unveiling the fountain. However, it does give ample descriptions of the responses of the spectators who had gathered in the Piazza. Once there, Bernal notes, the citizens of the city were overwhelmed by the massive fountain, with its huge lifelike figures. The report mentions the "enraptured souls" of the population, the fountain, which "gushes out a wealth of silvery treasures" causing "no little wonder" in the onlookers. Bernal then continues to describe the fountain, making continuous reference to the seeming naturalism of the figures and its astonishing effect on those in the piazza.
The making of the fountain was met by opposition by the people of Rome for several reasons. First, Innocent X had the fountain built at public expense during the intense famine of 1646–48. Throughout the construction of the fountain, the city murmured and talk of riot was in the air. Pasquinade writers protested against the construction of the fountain in September 1648 by attaching hand-written invectives on the stone blocks used to make the obelisk. These pasquinades read, "We do not want Obelisks and Fountains, it is bread that we want. Bread, Bread, Bread!" Innocent quickly had the authors arrested, and disguised spies patrol the Pasquino statue and Piazza Navona.[8]
The street vendors of the market also opposed the construction of the fountain, as Innocent X expelled them from the piazza. The Pamphili pope believed they detracted from the magnificence of the square. The vendors refused to move, and the papal police had to chase them from the piazza. Roman Jews, in particular, lamented the closing of the Navona, since they had been allowed to sell used articles of clothing there at the Wednesday market.[9]
See also
- Obeliscus Pamphilius
- List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Fontaines de la Concorde - Fountains in Paris commemorating rivers
References
- ^ The life of Cavaliere Bernini
- ISBN 0192880039.
- ^ "FATHOM: Image Gallery". University of Chicago. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ISBN 978-0674052611.
- ^ Lorenčak Kiker, Marja (2010). "The Robba Fountain: The Story of the City's Symbol". Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
- ISBN 0679735127.
- ^ Bernal, Antonio (1651). Copiosissimo Discorso della Fontana, e Guglia Eretta in Piazza Navona, per ordine della Santità di Nostro Signore Innocentio X dal Signor Cavalier Bernini ... Rome.
- ^ the diary of Giacinto Gigli, Diario di Rome, vol. II, pp. 533–34.
- ^ Francesco Cancellieri, Il Mercato, il Lago dell'Acqua Vergine, ed il Palazzo Panfiliano nel circo agonale, detto volgarmente Piazza Navona.
External links
- Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Video of the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona at Christmas time.
- Video Introduction to Bernini Four Rivers Fountain and The Moor
Media related to Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Fontanone di Ponte Sisto |
Landmarks of Rome Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi |
Succeeded by Quattro Fontane |