Placed in the centre of the parterre, in line with the stairway on the 

 one hand and the belvedere on the other, is the most important feature of 

 the garden — the Fountain of Venus. The figure from which the foun- 

 tain derives its name has been attributed to Giambologna ; certainly it is 

 a piece of sculpture of which even he had no need to be ashamed, though 

 probably, like the charming little fountain figure in the Buontalenti 

 grotto of the Boboli gardens, it is an early work. 



Venus or water nymph, it is all one, so only she stand sweetly against 

 the deep blue sky, the purity of the marble enhanced by the warm grey 

 stone basin and the strong shadow cast on the slim pedestal below. 



The great fluted tazza, above which the goddess stands, receives the 

 spent water that rises in one slender jet and breaks into spray above her. 

 From this tazza the water, instead of brimming over in the usual way, 

 escapes through the lips of four masks, set together Janus-wise close 

 beneath the overhanging basin. Set round the fountain's brim is a simple 

 wrought-iron guard-railing, with panels of richer work at the angles^ 

 Unspoilt by paint, its pleasant purple and orange rust is in perfect harmony 

 with its surroundings. How the tidy English fingers, that chance this 

 way, must itch to give it a coat of some horrible uninteresting paint, and 

 to grub up the handsome acanthus and other weeds that luxuriate in every 

 cranny of the beautiful stone kerb ! 



Four stone benches on bracketed feet stand round the fountain, set 

 back against the curving hedge of box, and half shaded by ancient lemon 

 trees, which with their satisfactory earthenware pots form such a feature 

 of the garden. 



Beyond the fountain, a break in the low terrace wall makes a little 

 belvedere. Piers some six feet in height, with moulded caps, support 

 pleasing elongated tazze, once fountains and now half hidden beneath a 

 wealth of pink China rose, which here, free to follow its own sweet will, 

 clambers over the stonework and falls in festoons and cascades of blossom. 

 In the treatment of these piers occurs one of those quaint touches of 

 fancy often shown by the fountain-artist. Pier and low wall are united 

 by a shallow curving buttress ornamented with a grotesque mask, from 

 whose gaping mouth the water (descending from the little fountain above) 

 issues and falls into a shell-shaped basin carved in the coping of the wall. 



lOI 



