"Old School" Garden Fountain Designers

Water fountain designers were multi-talented individuals from the 16th to the late 18th century, often serving as architects, sculptors, artists, engineers and highly educated scholars all in one. Leonardo da Vinci as a imaginative intellect, inventor and scientific expert exemplified this Renaissance creator. With his immense curiosity about the forces of nature, he explored the attributes and motion of water and systematically annotated his examinations in his now recognized notebooks. Combining creativity with hydraulic and landscaping abilities, early Italian fountain designers modified private villa settings into innovative water exhibits full with symbolic meaning and natural charm. The splendors in Tivoli were provided by the humanist Pirro Ligorio, who was famed for his skill in archeology, engineering and garden design. For the various estates close click to Florence, other water feature builders were well versed in humanist themes and ancient scientific texts, masterminding the extraordinary water marbles, water features and water antics.