ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
garden, shaped in the form of a circus, lay in the 
hollow of the valley. This lowest garden could be 
used as an arena for games and bull-fights, and con¬ 
tained an oval piece of water evidently imitated from 
the oblong basin excavated in the tufa of the Poecile at 
Hadrian’s villa. From the slight indications given in 
Raphael’s sketch, his pupils filled up the plans and 
produced designs in which the temples, loggias, stair¬ 
ways, fountains, and groves are clearly marked, and the 
names of the trees—oranges, beeches, and chestnuts— 
are written. 1 
. 
Vasari speaks with admiration of the pavilions, 
loggie, rustic fountains, paved courts, fish-ponds, and 
other ornamental objects, all arranged in perfect order 
and harmony, which adorned the grounds of the 
Nymphasum, and dwells with especial delight on two 
beautiful fountains made by Giovanni da Udine. One 
of these, which is still in existence, stood at the end of 
the upper terrace and was decorated with an elephant’s 
head, carved in marble, a basin adorned with stucco 
shells, and marine creatures, imitated from the reliefs 
of the recently discovered Temple of Neptune. The 
other was placed at the back of a rocky cave, in a 
dense thicket. Here Giovanni carved a lion’s head 
gracefully wreathed in maidenhair and other grasses, 
“ wrought with such delicacy and skill that this savage 
1 See No. 789 by Francesco di San Gallo, &c. 
90 
