The Fountain of the Sea-Horses
Rudolph Ruzicka American, born Czechoslovakia
Related author Fanny Davenport Rogers MacVeagh American
Not on view
We here look at Bernini's fountain in the Villa Borghese gardens, with sea-horses rising into a lower basin just above ground level, below three graduated basins above. This is a proof of one of 43 wood engravings that Ruzicka made to illustrate "Fountains of Papal Rome," 1915; there the image appears on page 184. Other images of fountains in the gardens are the "Fountain of the Amorini" (MMA proof, 18.25.17), "Fountain with a Nymph" (MMA proof, 18.25.32) behind the Casino, and "Fountain before a statue of Esculapius" (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."
