House £s? Garden 
mere monument. Diderot rightly speaks of 
“ The beautiful fountain of the Rue de Cren¬ 
elle—I say beautiful for the figures; the rest 
1 find less than mediocre.” Later, explain¬ 
ing, he says: “ No fountain can be beautiful 
where the distribution of water does not form 
the decorative principle.” 
One of the best designs in Paris for the 
efficient use of water is that of Visconti in the 
A quite different ideal of fountain con¬ 
struction prevails in Mohamedan countries. 
There the fountains are generally in small 
closed buildings, polygonal or square, orna¬ 
mented richly, with colonnades, niches, cup¬ 
olas and carvings, but have only small basins 
to receive water, which is used with scarcely 
a hint of its decorative possibilities, flowing 
like a stream from a faucet. The influence 
FONTANA ONOFRIO AT RAGUSA, DALMATIA 
Gaillon fountain, already mentioned. A well- 
planned wall fountain is that of the Rue du 
Regard, with classic orders and pediment, the 
facade carrying in high relief a nude figure with 
a swan, from whose outstretched bill a stream 
falls into a projecting basin. Vasari’s fountain 
at the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, with Verroc¬ 
chio’s cherub and an urn whence three lions’ 
heads discharge water, is another economical 
design. So is that of the Gatteschi fountain at 
Viterbo, Italy, dating from the twelfth cen¬ 
tury ; and so, also, is the not very beautiful 
Hamburg fountain already illustrated. 
of this Turkish practice seems to have been 
felt in the fountain at Ragusa, with its large 
dome and its incomplete-looking tier of 
stone, guarded by columns at the angles. 
The water falls from orifices in the carved 
panels into the narrow basin. Climatic con¬ 
ditions have doubtless importantly modified 
this design ; it is but another example of the 
tendency of street fountain architecture to 
meet local need, which, here and elsewhere, 
has obtained for it a dignified place in the 
field of design. 
Samuel Swift. 
213 
