HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 



37 



sparkling fountains form a most cool and pleasing picture, whilst the great fountains tcrmhiate 

 ever}- vista with canopies supported by graceful figures of young men crowned with baskets of 

 flowers, and cupids running riot amidst garlands of fruit and flowers. 



About 1640 Isola Bella,-on Lake Maggiore, was commenced, and the great works continued 

 for more than thirty years under the direction of Count Carlo Borromeo. Already we can begin 

 to detect a falling off in the architectural detail and a straining after effect. Though the con- 



ception of Isola Bella is undoubtedly good, its detail is often coarse and lacks the refinement wc 

 find in so many of the earlier gardens round Florence. 



The Villa Belrespiro or Pamphilj on the Janiculum Hill, Rome, and the Villa Sauli in the 

 same city were botli laid out by Alessandro iVlgardi about 1640, a Bolognese architect, also 

 distiiiguished as an engraver and sculptor. In 1648 the Villa Falconieri at Frascati was 



