A Fountain in a Grotto
Giovanni Guerra
ca. 1598 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of black and red chalk · Drawings and Prints
During the 16th century, Italian nobles developed a taste for artificial grottoes in their gardens and sometimes even in their houses. Artists, such as Giambologna and Bernardo Buontalenti became very skilled in inventing landscapes of rocks and shells often inhabited by amphibians, invertebrates and other animals. The aquatic nature of most of these grottoes also lent itself well to the inclusion of fountains and statues of deities connected to water. In this design by Giovanni Guerra, a river god is seated on the rocks. He supports two amphorae from which water falls into the basin below.
- Artist
- Giovanni Guerra
- Date
- ca. 1598
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of black and red chalk
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Purchase, James A. and Maria R. Warth Gift, in memory of Anne and Peter Warth, 1999
