SALVI, Niccolò
(b. 1697, Roma, d. 1751, Roma)

Fontana di Trevi (detail)

1732-62
Marble
Piazza di Trevi, Rome

The fountain is one of the rare occasions in which sculpture and architecture are not only present on an equal footing, but complement each other, so that where sculpture imitates nature with its rocks and plants, horses and shells, it mediates between the natural world - represented by water - and the human world - represented by architecture. The flowing of water, rushing thunderously in a thousand streams, becomes a metaphor for existence and for the continuous evolution of nature in which humanity too takes part.




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