DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0286
The Italian Renaissance and Baroque
257
eastern water-works. Gigantic blocks of tufa, with a Pegasus on the top, receive the rush of
the water. In little irregular niches were water deities, now overgrown (Fig. 187). Under the
rock there is a semicircular walk with columns round a huge oval basin, and between them
niches with statues. The three remaining sides of this theatre of the waters are walled in,
and on the southern side which cuts into the mountain there is another bathing grotto. A
narrow passage through leads from this theatre to the main walk (Fig. 188), by the side
of which as it passes along the hill there are three canals in steps, with any number of
sculptures—eagles, little boats, and
grotesques, spurting out their water
from one canal into another. There
are relief carvings between, depicting
the Metamorphoses of Ovid. On the
west this path leads to the most
peculiar object of the baroque garden,
for on a semicircular bay in the wall
there stands a puppet-show of a
town. In the centre sits enthroned a
Minerva, much too big as compared
with the buildings. The little town
bears the proud name of Roma
Triumphans. Under it is another
water theatre, including a fountain
with artificial singing-birds.
The effect of the level garden,
which lies on the other side of the
cistern as far as the way out on the
north, depended more on the manner
of its planting, and consequently has
suffered more since it was first laid
out. The oldest drawing we have
shows the main crossways covered
• -t 1 • 1 1 • , FIG. l86. VILLA D'ESTE, TIVOLI-THE WATER ORGAN AS
with lattice-work, and m the middle IT IS TO_DAY
the four paths are united by a temple;
also on the four sides there are other smaller temples adorning the beds. These no doubt
had flowers planted between the fruit-trees; but Evelyn, who saw the garden in 1644,
calls it by its old name of medicinal garden or physic garden (garden of simples). This
part, alone and separately bordered, shows the mark of the Middle Ages very distinctly;
and the same is true of the four labyrinths lying at the side, except that they are distinctly
part of the general plan. Evelyn also mentions four pretty little gardens near the house,
but rather vaguely, and perhaps he means at the side, where there may well have been
four giardini secreti.
The first picture clearly shows how thoroughly we must get rid of the fantastic
impression, if we want to know how things were at the beginning, which is made nowadays
by the dense overgrown gardens, the monotonous rushing streams, and the tall cypresses.
These cypresses especially, which are so important from the architectural point of view,
257
eastern water-works. Gigantic blocks of tufa, with a Pegasus on the top, receive the rush of
the water. In little irregular niches were water deities, now overgrown (Fig. 187). Under the
rock there is a semicircular walk with columns round a huge oval basin, and between them
niches with statues. The three remaining sides of this theatre of the waters are walled in,
and on the southern side which cuts into the mountain there is another bathing grotto. A
narrow passage through leads from this theatre to the main walk (Fig. 188), by the side
of which as it passes along the hill there are three canals in steps, with any number of
sculptures—eagles, little boats, and
grotesques, spurting out their water
from one canal into another. There
are relief carvings between, depicting
the Metamorphoses of Ovid. On the
west this path leads to the most
peculiar object of the baroque garden,
for on a semicircular bay in the wall
there stands a puppet-show of a
town. In the centre sits enthroned a
Minerva, much too big as compared
with the buildings. The little town
bears the proud name of Roma
Triumphans. Under it is another
water theatre, including a fountain
with artificial singing-birds.
The effect of the level garden,
which lies on the other side of the
cistern as far as the way out on the
north, depended more on the manner
of its planting, and consequently has
suffered more since it was first laid
out. The oldest drawing we have
shows the main crossways covered
• -t 1 • 1 1 • , FIG. l86. VILLA D'ESTE, TIVOLI-THE WATER ORGAN AS
with lattice-work, and m the middle IT IS TO_DAY
the four paths are united by a temple;
also on the four sides there are other smaller temples adorning the beds. These no doubt
had flowers planted between the fruit-trees; but Evelyn, who saw the garden in 1644,
calls it by its old name of medicinal garden or physic garden (garden of simples). This
part, alone and separately bordered, shows the mark of the Middle Ages very distinctly;
and the same is true of the four labyrinths lying at the side, except that they are distinctly
part of the general plan. Evelyn also mentions four pretty little gardens near the house,
but rather vaguely, and perhaps he means at the side, where there may well have been
four giardini secreti.
The first picture clearly shows how thoroughly we must get rid of the fantastic
impression, if we want to know how things were at the beginning, which is made nowadays
by the dense overgrown gardens, the monotonous rushing streams, and the tall cypresses.
These cypresses especially, which are so important from the architectural point of view,