Fountain in Front of the Villa Aldobrandini (Villa
Belvedere): From Le fontane di Roma, part 2, Le fontane delle ville di Frascati (plate 5),
1691
Artist: Giovanni Battista Falda (Italian, ca. 1640–1678)
Rome: Giovanni Giacomo de' Rossi, 1691
Etching
Artist: Giovanni Battista Falda (Italian, ca. 1640–1678)
Rome: Giovanni Giacomo de' Rossi, 1691
Etching
Overall: 11 x 15 7/8 x 1 5/16
in. (27.9 x 40.4 x 3.4 cm)
Gift of D. W. Langton, transferred from the Library (1991.1073.145.5)
Gift of D. W. Langton, transferred from the Library (1991.1073.145.5)
The Villa Aldobrandini belonged to the grandest of Roman
Baroque estates, enjoying from its perfect position, high above a set of oval
terraces built inside the slope of the Tusculum Hill, a wide view of Frascati
and the countryside toward Rome. Begun for Ippolito Aldobrandini (Pope Clement
VII) in 1598 and extended by his nephew, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, the villa
and gardens, with their astonishing water displays, were created by a team of
well-known architects, including Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno, and
Domenico Fontana. Of all the magnificent fountains that once graced the gardens,
two delightfully sculpted barchetta fountains in the form of a small boat, one
of which is illustrated in this print, survive today. They stand on either end
of the retaining wall of the oval ramp that embraces the front of the villa
complex. The fountains are decorated with playful figures of putti spewing water
jets from a central rock and from sconces on either side. The element of water
informs the whole Aldobrandini estate, from the semicircular water theater
directly behind the house to the dramatic cascade from the steep hill above.
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