Boboli Gardens: fountains and propaganda in sixteenth-century Florence

Abstract

A sixteenth-century Florentine villa fountain is generally characterized by a candelabrum form, is surmounted by a sculpture, and has a minimum play of water deriving from wells or rain collected in reservoirs.1 This type is best exemplified by Niccolò Tribolo's 1545 Hercules and Antaeus fountain and the Fountain of Florence (both originally at Castello, a Medici villa), known for their innovative integration of water and sculpture.2 It has been suggested that in contrast with the fountains at Castello, those at the Boboli Gardens lack such inventiveness. Furthermore, it has been thought that the Boboli fountains, planned at different times and for different purposes, lack the geographical specificity and thematic unity of fountains at other Medici villas.3 Indeed, the monumental scale and overall sculptural form of the Boboli fountains distinguish them from contemporary garden works and liken them to civic fountain designs. Consistent with these urban projects, the fountains of the Boboli Gardens, long minimized and misinterpreted, can be seen to carry contemporary political and historical messages in a cohesive iconographic program, desired by and created for Cosimo 1 de'Medici.