Water feature designers were multi-talented people from the 16th to the late 18th century, often working as architects, sculptors, artisans, engineers and cultivated scholars all in one person. Exemplifying the Renaissance skilled artist as a innovative legend, Leonardo da Vinci performed as an inventor and scientific expert. He carefully documented his findings in his now much celebrated notebooks about his studies into the forces of nature and the attributes and motion of water. Early Italian fountain engineers converted private villa configurations into ingenious water displays full with symbolic meaning and natural charm by coupling creativity with hydraulic and horticultural talent. The magnificence in Tivoli were developed by the humanist Pirro Ligorio, who was famed for his capabilities in archeology, engineering and garden design. Other water feature designers, masterminding the fantastic water marbles, water attributes and water jokes for the countless properties near Florence, were well-versed in humanist subjects and classical scientific texts.
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