Tommaso and Alessandro Francini
Tommaso Francini (1571–1651) and his younger brother Alessandro Francini (or Thomas Francine and Alexandre Francine in France) were
Francesco de' Medici's heir, his brother
Not all of Tommaso Francini's mechanisms for courtly entertainments were garden features. He was the designer of a revolving stage-set for an elaborately produced pageant, Le ballet de la délivrance de Renaud, presented in January 1617 at the
In the reign of
The Francini brothers founded a dynasty of French fountain engineers; a younger Francini worked on fountains in the early stages of Versailles, especially the Grotto of Thetis (completed 1668, described by André Félibien, 1676[11] and demolished for the enlargement of the château 1686). Members of the Francini clan were still at work in the eighteenth century.
Selected works
- Villa Medicea di Pratolino. Fountains and the water organ.
- Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Grottos and fountains, engraved in 1614 by Alexandre Francini.
- Palais du Luxembourg, Paris. Aqueduct, grotto and Medici Fountain.
- Allée. It has been suggested that Rueil's cascade and gardens were inspired by those of the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati. In turn the formal Cascade of Rueil down thirty steps inspired more naturalistic cascades at Versailles, St-Cloud and at Château de Sceaux[13] The cascade at Rueil was replaced by lawn in 1720 and the park was remodelled by the Empress Josephine as part of her Château de Malmaison.
Notes
- ^ Francesco de Vieri, Delle meravigliose opere di Pratolino e d'Amore: "et in Pratolino, perché quelle statue si voltino, suonino, gettino acqua, sono tanti e tanti artifizi stupendi in luoghi occulti, che chi gli vedesse tutti insieme, ne n'andrebbe in estasi". Quoted by Claudio Mutini, "Il Corpo del Gigante: morfologia e varianti 'umanistiche' Aperture (on-line text). Archived March 21, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Marie de' Medici, Queen of France". The Medici Family. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
- Château de Bloisa century earlier.
- ^ Silvio A. Bedini, "The Role of Automata in the History of Technology" Technology and Culture 5.1 (Winter 1964, pp. 24-42) p. 28; see also Louis de Tourrasse, "Le Château-neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye: ses terrasses et ses grottes" Gazette des Beaux-Arts 9 (1924), pp 98ff.
- ^ His La fontaine rustique, Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en'Laye. La Premier Gallérie des Grottes, 1597, are illustrated in Adams 1983:figs. 45, 46.
- ^ James Laver's remarks on the innovation by Lautenschläger used in 1896 for presenting Mozart operas, are noted by Harold M. Priest, "Marino, Leonardo, Francini, and the Revolving Stage" Renaissance Quarterly 35.1 (Spring 1982, pp. 36-60) p. 37, note 3.
- ^ Priest 1982.
- ^ as Intendant général des jardins et fontaines de Royne, sa mère (Adams 1979:58).
- ^ See Yves Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, L'art des jardins en Europe, and Luigi Gallo in Paris et ses Fontaines, both which attribute the fountain to Francini. De Brosse is sometimes credited with designing the fountain, but he died in the same year the fountain was built, and before his death he was involved in a lawsuit with Marie de' Medici over non-payment of his fee; court documents detailed all the work he had done for the Queen, and there was no mention of the fountain. See Luigi Gallo, pg. 56.
- ^ Noted by Anthony Blunt, "Rubens and Architecture"The Burlington Magazine 119 No. 894 (September 1977, pp. 609-619, 621), p. 613 note 19.
- ^ Felibien, Description de la grotte de Versailles (Paris 1676)
- ^ Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny Taste and the Antique 1981:196.
- ^ Chanson 1998.
References
- Adams, William Howard, 1979. The French Garden 1500–1800 (New York: Braziller)
- Marie, Alfred 1955.Jardins français créés à la renaissance
- Paris et ses fontaines, de la Renaissance à nos jours, texts assembled by Dominque Massounie, Pauline-Prevost-Marcilhacy and Daniel Rabreau, Délegation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris, Collection Paris et son Patrimoine, Paris, 1995.
- L'Art des jardins en Europe, Yves-Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, Citadelles & Mazenod, Paris, 2006
Further reading
- Marina Longo, "La figura di Tommaso Francini, architetto scenografo alla corte di Francia" Teatro e Storia 24.
External links
- Francine, Alexandre, –1648 at Library of Congress, with 3 library catalogue records