Rome: design for the Fountain of the lower Belvedere Court, plan and perspective elevation, c. 1614

Artist/Maker

DatesMade: Made ca 1609 - 1615

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: 42,7 x 24,5 cm

Inventory numberNMH CC 2746

AcqusitionDonated 1941 by Eric Langenskiöld. Formerly in the Cronstedt collection, Fullerö

Other titlesTitle (sv): Fontänen på Cortile del Belvedere, Rom. Perspektiv och plan Title (en): Rome: design for the Fountain of the lower Belvedere Court, plan and perspective elevation, c. 1614 Previous: The Fountain of the Lower Belvedere Courtyard, Rome. Perspective drawing and plan

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Bortolozzi, Italian Architectural Drawings from the Cronstedt Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2020 (cat.no. 166) Carlo Maderno (1556–1629), his workshop Squaring graphite lines, pen and brown ink over black chalk, brownyellow and light violet wash. Traces of red chalk along the margins. Drawn with straightedge, compass and freehand, 42.7 × 24.5 cm NM H CC 2746 PAPER: the drawing has been lined on to a secondary support of thick paper using a starch paste. The secondary support has been trimmed to size of the drawing. A detail of a circular moulded basin drawn on the verso is visible in transparency WATERMARK: none visible. The watermark of the secondary support is partially visible on the upper edge, but is not identifiable INSCRIPTIONS: no inscriptions MEASUREMENTS: no measurements; no scale PROVENANCE: Carl Johan Cronstedt and descendants; Eric Langenskiöld; gift to the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm 1941 BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bortolozzi 2008, 97, fig. 2 The project is exemplified by a perspectival elevation and a plan. A large circular basin, supported by an octagonal pedestal, forms the major element of the composition. The pedestal stands in the centre of a lower basin, shaped as the combination of a square and a quatrefoil. The papal coat-of-arms and the Borghese dragons spouting water in the recessed panels of the pedestal indicate the patronage of Paul V (1605–1621). The Belvedere Fountain was part of a larger project for distributing water from the aqueduct of Acqua Paola, newly built by the Pope (see Cat. no. 165). An Avviso of 4 November 1609 mentions several drawings for fountains presented to the Pope. The first to be executed was the Fountain of the lower Belvedere Court. The large upper basin was a classical granite one, taken from the baths of Titus. In 1504 it had been transported to the lower Belvedere Court by Donato Bramante and transformed into a fountain. In 1565 the fountain was removed and the basin buried under the ground until Paul V decided to disinter and install it with new embellishments as the centrepiece of a new fountain. Payments to Carlo Fancelli for the pedestal of the fountain began in September 1609. Work was apparently delayed and only in 1614–1615 was the classical basin installed. Around 1950, during the pontificate of Pius XII, a smaller basin was installed above, changing the original design of the fountain. Traditionally, Carlo Maderno has been credited with the Fountain of the lower Belvedere Court, and for other fountains in the Vatican, Vatican gardens and Borgo. Hibbard argues that the only fountains that can be attributed to Maderno with some certainty are the fountains of the Belvedere Court, St Peter’s square, San Giacomo in the Borgo (also called “at Scossacavalli”) and other minor fountains in the Borgo quarter. A project in the Albertina collection for a fountain in Borgo San Pietro that was never executed is ascribed to Maderno’s workshop (Hibbard 1971, pl. 75a; Lugano 1999, no. 117) and presents a plan and a perspectival elevation comparable in technique, style and dimensions to the drawing and to another design for the Fountain of San Giacomo in Borgo, also in the Cronstedt Collection (NM H CC 1374, Cat. no. 165). A drawing of the Fountain of the lower Belvedere Court in the Courtauld Institute of Art (Bortolozzi 2008, fig. 8) appears to be a replica of NM H CC 2746. The Courtauld sheet differs from the Stockholm drawing only in the distribution of the spouts in the lower pool and in the addition of an inscription in the upper part. A few other drawings for fountains by Carlo Maderno and his workshop have been identified (Klamt 1987; Fuhring 1989, no. 849). LITERATURE: Parasacchi 1637; Ackerman 1954, 41 n. 2, 112–113; Hibbard 1971, 198–201; D’Onofrio 1977, 314–315, 379–382; Klamt 1987; Bortolozzi 2008 OTHER DRAWINGS: London, CIA, Perspective drawing and plan of the fountain in the Cortile del Belvedere, inv. n. D.1984. AB.73. Prints: Giovanni Maggi, Fontana nel Cortile del Palazo del P.P. in S. Pietro in Vaticano, 1618; Domenico Parasacchi, Fontana di Belvedere, 1637 [end]

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MaterialPaper

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