Fountain with a Nymph, Villa Borghese
Rudolph Ruzicka American, born Czechoslovakia
Related author Fanny Davenport Rogers MacVeagh American
Not on view
This fountain centered on a standing nymph is found in Rome's Villa Borghese Gardens, behind the Casino. The proof is one of a series of 43 wood engravings that Ruzicka made to illustrate "Fountains of Papal Rome," 1915 where it appears on page 181. Other images of fountains in the gardens are: Bernini's "Fountain of the Sea-horses" (MMA proof, 18.25.12), the "Fountain of the Amorini" (MMA proof, 18.25.17), and "Fountain before a statue of Escalapius (MMA proof, 18.25.31).
Ruzicka went to Rome in 1913 with the manuscript of Mrs. Charles MacVeagh's "Fountains of Papal Rome" in hand as a guide. When published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York in 1915 the book contained fourteen full-page images and twenty-nine page headings and vignettes. The artist later described the book as a "quite remarkable work...still the most authoritative book there is on the subject in the English language."
