Neptune Fountain (Vienna)
| Fountain of Neptune | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| place | Schönbrunn Palace , Vienna |
| country |
 Austria
|
| use | Ornamental fountain |
| construction time | 1778-1780 |
| architect | Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg |
| sculptor | Johann Wilhelm Beyer |
| Architectural style | Baroque |
| Technical specifications | |
| height | 7.4 m |
| width | 44.8 m |
| length | 101.6 m |
| Floors | 4th |
| Building material | Bricks, Kaiserstein & Sterzinger marble |
| Coordinates | |
| location | Coordinates: 48 ° 10 ′ 52.7 " N , 16 ° 18 ′ 36.8" E 48 ° 10 ′ 52.7 " N , 16 ° 18 ′ 36.8" E |
The Neptune Fountain in Schönbrunn Palace Park was built between 1778 and 1780 as part of the redesign of the complex under Empress Maria Theresa . The fountain is a good hundred meters long, almost fifty meters wide and without figures a little over seven meters high.
history
The excavations for the basin (and four other wells foreseen on the large ground floor) began in 1776, but the concept had to be changed in 1777 after it became clear that no adequate amounts of water could be drawn. This meant that dug basins had to be filled in again and that the completion of the Neptune Fountain was delayed until 1780.
Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg designed the brick-built, but clad with imperial stone . The production of the sculptures from white Sterzingen marble was entrusted to the kk Hofstatuarius (court sculptor) Johann Christian Wilhelm Beyer and carried out in his studio.
description
The fountain lies in the main axis between the castle and the Gloriette on the edge of the large parterre, which is completed by the larger than life-size figures , while at the same time accentuating the transition to the hill.
It consists of a large basin, which is closed against the slope by a curved retaining wall. In the middle there is an artificial rock grotto, above it the sea god Neptune on a shell chariot, supported on his trident.
The sea nymph Thetis , mother of Achilles , kneels to his right . She asks Neptune for a storm at sea, which should thwart the abduction of Helena by the Trojan prince Paris to Troy. Knowing the prophecy that her son would die an early death in the Trojan War, she tries to persuade the god of the sea to prevent the imminent war and thus save her son's life. On Neptune's left, at his feet, a nymph with a cornucopia, an indication of the overflowing wealth of the seas. The main group is surrounded by four tritons , the masters of the hippocamps (sea horses), who pull Neptune's chariots. The originally seven groups of figures (in addition to the main group with Neptune and the four triton groups, two naiad groups that were to be set up in the basin) led to disputes and some official correspondence: the naiad groups were so disproportionately small compared to the others that they were included in the two Basin of the eastern and western roundel (now the round and star basin ) had to set. Beyer was accused of having done this on purpose to forestall other sculptors who would otherwise have worked for these pools with a fait accompli.
In the art of the 16th to 18th centuries, Neptune ruling the seas stood as a parable for the sovereign ruling his country.
Behind the fountain is a building built into the slope, through which a brick vault with walls up to one and a half meters thick below the fountain and a connecting tunnel to the rear Glorietta pond are accessible. The water is led through a gravitational pipe from there to the Neptune Fountain. Because of the lack of water, the fountain used to be used only on special occasions, and not at all after each of the two world wars. Only since the last and complete renovation of the well has a water cycle been in place and thus continuous operation possible.
See also
Web links
- Schönbrunn Palace - Neptune Fountain
- Vienna worth seeing
- Federal Geological Institute : Neptune Fountain - Vienna
Individual evidence
- ↑ on the subject cf. the copper engraving by Victor Honoré Janssens . Literary background: Publius Papinius Statius , Achilleis 1.61 ff. The depicted scene is preceded by Thetis' attempt to immortalize Achilles as a baby by immersing him in the Styx and thus to save him from the predicted fate. Further efforts to influence the fate of her son should follow. About Statius: Severin Koster, Love and War in the Achilles of Statius .
- ↑ B. Hajós, p. 30.