An Unpublished Treatise on Waters by Vincenzo Della Greca: A Source of Carlo Fontana’s...

An Unpublished Treatise on Waters by Vincenzo Della Greca: A Source of Carlo Fontana’s Utilissimo Trattato

Delle Acque Correnti

Marisa TabarriniSapienza Università di Roma, Italy

The relevance of the manuscript entitled Delli effetti delle acque di Vincenzo Della Greca Architetto civile, et militare della Regia Camera Apostolica, dated 1642 and belonging to the library of Girolamo Settimo prince of Fitalia in Sicily, emerges both from its author, one of the major architects active in Rome under pope Barberini, and from its subject, the description of physical phenomena of waters.1

In baroque Rome, monopolized by first mag-nitude stars like Borromini, Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, Vincenzo Della Greca “architetto soprastante” [leading architect] of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome from 1623, coadjutor of Carlo Maderno for the Reverenda Camera Apostolica from 1627, is documented in many yards of defensive and military architecture under Urban VIII. Born in Palermo in 1592, he belongs to a selected group of architects rele gated to the background, however chara cterized by a high level of professionalism. He worked also for religious patrons – the facade of SS. Domenico and Sisto in Magnanapoli is traditionally attributed to him – as well as aristocratic families such as the Colonna and the Spada. His biography based on the “life” of Giovanni Baglione (1642, 278) and on archival records shows the curriculum of a practical archi-tect – always occupied in professional tasks – and often active in the settlement of disputes on con-structive issues and participating in committees for technical advice. Rarely interes ted in stylistic matters, Della Greca belonged to a group of art-ists defined as “the other side of the medal,” a mo derate and reasonable trend of Roman archi-tecture, in substantial parallelism with the triumph

of innovative Baroque, that pursues the tradition of late 17th century forms (Blunt 1980). While remaining a figure of medium profile, he had the confidence and respect of clients who recog nize in him a reliable professional, able to solve the stag-nation of a yard and to develop rapid and effective architectural solutions. A trust clearly supported by his acquired theoretical knowledge.

Della Greca in April 1636 was chosen by the Accademia di San Luca “to educate young people in civil and military architecture” and just two years later, on 25 April 1638, he was among the can-didates for the position of Prince of the Academy (Acciai 1989). In early 1641, he collected his aca-demic lessons in the Libro di architettura civile e militare, an early example of teaching activity in the first half of the 17th century, of which two manuscript copies illustrated with original draw-ings are known. The first was purchased on the antique market by Anthony Blunt in 1970 and leaved as legacy after his death in 1984 to the Courtauld Institute of London (Blunt 1973); the second was discovered by Helmut Lorenz in the collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein in Vaduz Castle (Smith 1993, 338). Della Greca’s purpose, first among the professors of architecture, was to provide students with an easy manual for lear-ning the profession based on a few basic precepts and on the enumeration of exempla maiores. His first student was his son Felice, who extrapolated from the teaching of his father the manuscript La breve relazione e stile di ordinare i membri partico-lari delle case e dei palazzi (Curcio 1978- 1979).2

One year after the Libro…, Vincenzo tried his hand at writing a book with similar intent

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Knowledge & Theorization / Technical Literature & Drawings630

on hydraulics: Degli effetti delle acque di Vincenzo Della Greca architetto civile e militare. The logical and formal structure of his treatise – dedicated to the Duke of Montalto, Luigi Guglielmo Moncada Aragón [Palermo 1614- Madrid 1672] – reveals a clear teaching approach, with the aim to publish theoretical knowledge especially useful for clients who loved gardens and water jokes. What is sur-prising is its scientific level showing the full recep-tion of ancient treatises on hydro- pneumatics and an updated insight on the first developments of modern hydrometry. It should be reminded that, although hydraulics at that time was considered essential for a good military engineer, it remained highly dependent on direct experience and com-pletely separated from theo retical demonstrations. The text is introduced by a long premise and is developed in 70 short chapters illustrated, very similar to the lessons of an academic course: the theoretical foundations first and then the practical

demonstrations. Della Greca cites the principle of communicating vessels and concepts such as speed of the water and atmospheric pressure to explain the functioning of fountains gushes with or with-out the use of mechanical devices. The princi-pal argument is hydro- pneumatics, but there are sections reserved to the technology of water dis-tribution, with a description of cisterns, fistulas and siphons.

The manuscript is based mainly on classical texts from Archimedean hydrostatics to Heronian pneu-matics. The Pneumatica by Hero of Alexandria, useful for the technology of water jokes was widely published in the 16th century thanks to the transla-tions of Aleotti, Bernardino Baldi and to the works of Giovanni Battista Della Porta, member of the Accademia dei Lincei. The manuscript of Della Greca demonstrates also that he was aware of the contemporary research of Galileo’s students. It is a fact that the measurement of water currents and experiments on the existence of vacuum and on the effects of atmospheric pressure emerged at the turn of the forties in Rome as a subject of strong inter-est for their practical applications. The hydrom-etry, almost entirely a new branch of study, was introduced to the University of Rome by Benedetto Castelli, author of the treatise Della misura dell’acque correnti (1628). The chronicles of mid- century also report of several experiments on the vacuum car-ried out in the convent of the Minim at Trinità dei Monti transformed into a kind of science labora-tory attended by Castelli’s students – Gaspare Berti, Raphael Magiotti – and by the Jesuits Athanasius Kircher and Gaspar Schott.

The Sicilian manuscript Delli effetti delle acque adds a new important element to the biography of Vincenzo Della Greca, essayist and professor of archi-tecture. At that time the Accademia di San Luca, however, was far from having the tight influence on architectural stage that will reach a few decades later when Carlo Fontana was elected Prince. The relationship between theory and design becomes a central theme in teaching architecture only starting from the end of the 17th century and will constitute an important chapter within the academic institu-tions responsible for the education. Carlo Fontana will establish a particular relationship between the academic institution and the world of professionals, and wrote texts specially tailored for the education of

Fig. 1: Frontispiece (Fontana 1696).


M. Tabarrini / An Unpublished Treatise on Waters by Della Greca 631

architects. In this regard Vincenzo Della Greca can be seen as a predecessor of Carlo Fontana. Fontana’s awareness of the writings of Vincenzo Della Greca is explicitly confirmed by a comparison between the manuscript Delli effetti delle acque of 1642 and the Utilissimo trattato delle Acque correnti published in 1696 (Hager 1991; Hager 1998).

In the theoretical and written production of Fontana, the treatise on waters is considered, after the Tempio Vaticano, the most challenging work both for complexity and originality of contents.3 The volume is divided into three books: the first discusses the movement of water and focuses on the technical description of aqueducts; the sec-ond explores the possible applications of hydrau-lics to the art of gardens and the construction of water jokes; in the third book the author explains

how he increased Acqua Paola. The triadic organ-ization is the result of a teaching approach: in the first part, theoretical foundations; in the sec-ond, questions on technical applications; finally, in the third, experience. The original structure of the treatise, begun in 1694, included only the first two books as the original manuscript in Sir John Soane’s Museum in London shows (Hager 1991; Hager 1998). In the preface of Book III, added after the other two were already printed in 1694, Fontana informs us that “it seemed good to me to

Fig. 2: Della Greca, V, 1642. Frontispiece. Delli effetti delle acque. Palermo: Biblioteca della Società Siciliana di Storia Patria, Fondo Fitalia, Ms. I D 6.

Fig. 3: Fontana 1696, II: 95.

Fig. 4: Della Greca 1642, ch. XIX.



all combine in a treatise, where the demonstrative sciences could merge with Experience, and Theory could be joint with Practice.”4

The treatise became a kind of theoretical and practical manual in which Fontana affirms the indissoluble unity between theory and practice in the activity of architects. He declares making his 30 years’ experience in hydraulics available not only to professionals but also to bibliophiles and for potential patrons, eager to enrich their gardens with fountains and water jokes.

A comparison with the manuscript Delli effetti delle acque, however, shows that the Utilissimo trat-tato delle acque correnti is a work partially apograph and in large part the editing of Della Greca’s texts, especially in the first original version of the volume divided in two books. The chapters composed by the Sicilian architect in 1642 were merged in the Utilissimo trattato according to a new order and distributed between the first and second book thus defining the theoretical grid (Figs. 1- 8).

The contribution of Fontana must be clearly distinguished from that of Della Greca. The first book of Utilissimo trattato…, divided into 41 chap-ters, analyzes the movement of water and describes the necessary work for supplying and distribut-ing water. It transcribes entirely the chapters of Della Greca’s treatise (XV- XVIII, XXVIII, LIV), in particular those on the principles of commu-nicating vessels. The chapters written by Fontana deal with pure technical issues ranging from the connection of waters to the supply system with ducts (IV- XIV), from the structures for primary water distribution and for secondary branches to the techniques for measuring water up to the final users (XXIV- XXVII).5 The second book is split into 44 chapters and introduces the concepts of speed, compressibility, rarefaction and condensa-tion of water related to the effects of atmospheric pressure. These principles are explained through illustration of vessels of different forms. After the precepts of hydro- pneumatics, it shows the pos-sible applications for fountains and for lifting water devices. Fontana in his introduction [“cap-itolo proemiale”] declares that all contents are the result of experience. However the text replicates almost entirely Della Greca’s Effetti delle acque…, though the chapters are mixed in a new order. The third book, divided into eight chapters, pro-

vides technical documentation of the addition of Acqua Paola, a subject that in Fontana’s mind offered a good opportunity to demonstrate the link between “theory” and “practice.”

The passages copied from Vinacenzo Della Greca tend basically to transfer in few lines the governing principles of hydrostatic, hydrodynamic and pneumatics. They are mostly scientific demon-strations without any reference to the real Roman water network and to the practice of profession-als. Fontana appropriates the work of Della Greca


Fig. 6: Della Greca 1642, ch. XXIII.



adding his personal experience. His true merit was to establish a close link between theory and prac-tice. The most important improvement is in the extraordinary quality of the illustrations, if com-pared with the simple and schematic drawings of Della Greca who drew orthographic projections with firm lines devoid of any decorative ambition. Fontana in some cases reworks Della Greca’s draw-ings in an axonometric projection and places it in an architectural or archaeological landscape, prov-ing a remarkable richness of invention. There are

vessels of all forms, with spouts, necks, mouths, handles, represented abstractly without their sup-porting surfaces. On the other hand we do not doubt about the expertise of Fontana in hydrau-lic engineering without which he would not have accomplished many major enterprises during his long career. Among them worth mentioning are the complex and intricate adduction of water for Acqua Paola since the early 70s, the restoration of the ancient aqueduct of Civitavecchia, began in 1692, the restoration project for Ponte Senatorio, works for the port of Ripa Grande together with Mattia de Rossi in 1695, and many more (Braham and Hager 1977; Hager 1997).

Since the beginning of the 90s Carlo Fontana put in place a careful editorial strategy to reassert its leadership in the sector of hydraulics, ques-tioned by the controversy of some opponents, and to dispel doubts about the validity of his work. If Carlo wanted to restore his reputation as a hydraulic engineer – as Helmut Hager has written – and to demonstrate the scientific basis of his profession, a book of the sort of Utilissimo trattato sulle acque correnti would be the best tool, also because: “more than any of his publications, it demonstrates his ability to theorize phenomena observed during his long career” (Hager 1991). Using a theoretical platform he could credit him-self as an architect who supports his experience and technique also on mathematical and physi-cal principles. It was as well a way to silence the objections of scientists against the mere technical knowledge of architects.

Despite his widespread experience, Fontana exploits the ready to use text of Della Greca because he didn’t want to embark in theoret-ical elaborations for lack of time or interest. Nevertheless it was very useful for the technical and scientific character he required for his book. The self- promotion was accompanied by the desire to transfer knowledge to young people and to practitioners on the field.

When Fontana combines his own experience with Vincenzo Della Greca’s theories, he follows a profitable method adopted in part in the Tempio Vaticano: he not only re- elaborates existing doc-umentation and sources not always cited, but juxtaposes conspicuous and skilful original contri-butions. This method required collaborators for the


Fig. 8: Della Greca 1642, ch. XXII.



transcription and organization of sources and for the re- arrangement of the documentation. Fontana could rely on a man of letters such as Nicola Posterla, scholar, poet and author of booklets and guides on Roman buildings who guaran teed an accurate language revision, or on the Archbishop Giovanni Carlo Vespignani, general treasurer of the Reverenda Fabbrica of St. Peter’s basilica, co- author of the book on Ponte Senatorio and sponsor of the Utilissimo trattato delle acque correnti.6

It is important that what has been discussed till now should not modify our judgment on Carlo Fontana, the effectiveness of his publishing strategy or his control on modern communica-tion techniques for text and images. His personal contribution, often reaffirmed, to the Utilissimo trattato delle acque correnti, should however be reduced to a clever work of re- elaboration though of widespread interest for the field of hydrau-lics. According to 17th- century practices Fontana does not mention his source but goes even fur-ther by mixing deliberately original chapters with those copied from Vincenzo Della Greca. The latter has been a less known predecessor in the chair of Fontana at the Accademia di San Luca and in the office of architetto camerale, and was the father of Felice, an older colleague who prob-ably introduced Fontana to the fundamentals of hydraulics.

In 1666, Fontana joined Felice Della Greca as the second misuratore, stimatore [surveyor] of the buildings belonging to the Camera Apostolica in Rome and in the State of the Church. Later Fontana gradually took charge of almost all yard of the Chigi, previously directed by Felice, well-

known especially as the creator of the water jokes in Villa Versaglia at Formello and in the garden of Cardinal Chigi near the Quattro Fontane (Pedroli Bertoni 1989).

The importance of Carlo Fontana as a tutor and professor in the Academy has been brilliantly discussed.7 Elected accademico di merito [academic for merit] in 1667 with the right to accept stu-dents in his workshop and to teach, Fontana was Prince of the Academy from 1694 to 1699. Under his leadership the Academy attained great prestige, becoming a pole of attraction for young and for-eign architects. Fontana, with his numerous writ-ings, became a focal character for the transmission and codification of knowledge, tools, techniques, and for the wider architectural debate.

Fontana as a teacher had a strong managerial spirit. For his publishing venture he uncaringly exploited existent scientific material developed in the same academic world of which he considered himself the greatest exponent. He was certainly aware, however, of this appropriation because – as Giovanna Curcio wrote – the Fontana was one of the first architects to claim at the beginning of the 18th century the right of ownership on artwork, either architectural or literary (Curcio 2000). Carlo Fontana successfully proposes a new type of intellectual, able to popularize and coordi-nate great cultural operations in the field of edi-tion and advertising. For the purpose he employed collaborators more or less subordinate, ready to copy and reshape text and documents from dif-ferent disciplines, hence contributing to the dif-fusion of knowledge among professionals and to the wider public.

Notes

1. Palermo, Biblioteca della Società Siciliana di Storia Patria, Fondo Fitalia, Ms. I D 6. On the unpublished treatise of Vincenzo Della Greca and on his personality see Tabarrini [forthcoming].

2. On the education of the architects in the Accademia di S. Luca in the second half of 17th century, see Smith 1993, and also Bonaccorso 2008 and Manfredi 2008.

3. On the written production of Carlo Fontana, see Hager 1991, Hager 1998, Curcio and Grillitsch 2003 and Bonaccorso 2008.

4. “[…] mi è parso bene unir tutto in un trattato, dove le scienze dimostrative possino unirsi con l’Esperienze, e la Teoria si possa con la Pratica congiungere” (Fontana 1696, 178).

5. On the practise of hydraulics in 17th century roman architecture see principally Scavizzi 1984 and Scavizzi 1990.

6. On the men of letters collaborators of Carlo Fontana see Bonaccorso 2008.

7. On the teaching method of Fontana see Hager 1993, Bonaccorso 1998 and Bonaccorso 2004.



Reference list

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Baglione, G., 1642. Le vite de’ pittori scultori et architetti. Dal pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572 in fino a’ tempi di Papa Vrbano Ottavo nel 1642. Rome: Andrea Fei.

Bonaccorso, G., 1998. I luoghi dell’architettura: lo stu-dio professionale di Carlo Fontana. Roma, le case, la città. E. Debenedettin (ed.). [Studi sul Settecento romano: 14]. Rome: Bonsignori, 95- 125.

Bonaccorso, G., 2004. Carlo Fontana e la didattica tec-nica: regole e consigli per “gli apprendisti” negli scritti di architettura. “Architetto sia l’ingegniero che discorre”: ingeg-neri, architetti e « proti » nell’età della Repubblica. G. Mazzi and S. Zaggia (eds.). Venice: Marsilio, 105- 124.

Bonaccorso, G., 2008. L’architetto e le collaborazioni letterarie: Carlo Fontana, Francesco Posterla e Carlo Ves-pignani. Studi sui Fontana. Una dinastia di architetti tici-nesi a Roma tra Manierismo e Barocco. M. Fagiolo and G. Bonaccorso (eds.). Rome: Gangemi, 141- 170.

Blunt, A., 1973. A Liègois building account of the 17th century. Album Amicorum I. G. van Gelder. J. Bruyn, J.A. Emmens (eds.). The Hague: Nijhoff 1973, 48.

Blunt, A., 1980. Roman Baroque Architecture: the other side of the medal. Art History 3, 60- 71.

Braham, A. and H. Hager, 1997. Carlo Fontana, the drawings at Windsor Castle. London: Zwemmer.

Curcio, G., 1978- 1979. La ‘Breve Relatione’ inedita di Felice Della Greca e la trattatistica funzionale fra il Cinque-cento e il Seicento. Ricerche di Storia dell’Arte 8, 99- 118.

Curcio, G., 2000. La professione dell’architetto: disegni, cantieri, manuali. Storia dell’architettura italiana. Il Settecento. G. Curcio and E. Kieven (eds.). Milan: Electa, I, 50- 69.

Curcio, G. and N.M. Grillitsch, 2003. Il testo e le immagini: sulle fonti del “Tempio Vaticano.” Il tempio vaticano 1694: Carlo Fontana. G. Curcio (ed.). Milan: Electa, CVI- CXXVII.

Fontana, C., 1696. Utilissimo trattato dell’acque correnti diviso in tre libri, nel quale si notificano le misure, ed espe-rienze di esse. Rome: Buagni.

Hager, H., 1991. Le opere letterarie di Carlo Fontana come autorappresentazione. In urbe Architectus. Modelli, disegni, misure. La professione di architetto. Roma 1680- 1750. B. Contardi and G. Curcio (eds.). Rome: Argos, 155- 203.

Hager, H., 1993. Carlo Fontana, pupil, partner, princi-pal, preceptor. The artist’s workshop. Proceedings of the Sym-posium “The Artist’s Workshop”, Washington, D.C., 10- 11 March 1989. P.M. Lukehart (ed.). Washington: National Gallery of Art, 123- 155.

Hager, H., 1997. Fontana, Carlo. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 48. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 624- 636.

Hager, H., 1998. Introduzione all’Utilissimo Trattato e alle opere di Carlo Fontana architetto idraulico. C. Fon-tana, Utilissimo trattato dell’acque correnti diviso in tre libri, nel quale si notificano le misure, ed esperienze di esse. I gi-uochi, e scherzi, li quali per mezzo dell’aria, e del fuoco, ven-gono operati dall’acqua… [1696]. H. Hager (ed.). Rome, Edizioni dell’Elefante, 7- 63.

Pedroli Bertoni, M., 1989. Della Greca, Felice. Dizion-ario Biografico degli Italiani 37. Rome: Istituto della Enci-clopedia Italiana, 56- 59.

Scavizzi, C.P., 1984. La rete idrica urbana in età mod-erna. Storia della Città 24, 77- 96.

Scavizzi, C.P., 1990. Costruzione di acquedotti nella pratica edilizia romana dei secoli XVI- XVII. Il modo di costruire. Rome 6-8 June 1988. Proceeding of the Con-gress. Rome: Edilstampa, 191- 204.

Smith, G.R., 1993. Architectural Diplomacy. Rome and Paris in the Late Baroque. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Tabarrini, T., [forthcoming]. Scienza e tecnica delle acque a Roma nel Seicento. Con un trattato inedito di Vincenzo della Greca. Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato.


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