Circle of Johann Wilhelm Baur

Were it not for the fact that it is clearly dated 1647, some 5 years after Baur's death, that is the artist to whom this exceptionally beautiful and important gouache would surely have been attributed.  It must, however, have been made instead either by another of the pupils of Baur's teacher, Friedrich Brentel, or by an artist who trained with Baur in Italy, before his premature death in 1642. 

Taking maximum advantage of the potential of its magnificent setting above Frascati, the Villa Aldobrandini is one of the most impressive and imposing villas of the region (fig. 1). It was designed by Michelangelo’s pupil Giacomo della Porta, and constructed between 1598 and 1603, towards the end of the long life of Pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini. Clement VIII had overseen a great increase in the revenues of the Papal States, and there was clearly enough of this income left over, after fulfilling Papal duties, for some to be channelled into the Pope’s personal projects.

Another factor in the villa’s magnificence is that on this site, unlike those of the other villas of Frascati, there was a plentiful natural (and therefore free) supply of water, permitting the construction of the astonishingly lavish Water Theatre that forms the subject of this view. A triumph of theatricality, this construction, which faces the villa’s delicately sculptured garden front, curves deep into the overhanging hillside. Yet the space between it and the villa and its casino was still relatively narrow, meaning that the sight and sound of the Water Theatre really dominated the gardens.

The Water Theatre itself was a tour de force of the hydraulic arts. Designed by della Porta and realised by Maderno, with the assistance of the water architect Orazio Olivieri, the structure consisted of five niches containing statues, with water jets rising in front of them. In the central niche stands Atlas, carrying the Globe, while from the parapet above the Star of the Aldobrandini showers a veil of water. In the north lateral arm is a chapel and in the south a garden salon, the Stanza dei Venti, a room that was the climax of the visit. This room was filled with hidden spouts and pipes, which would suddenly soak the visitor from all sides, while other water jets and air jets powered by water pressure, produced a cacophony of whistles, gurgles, shrieks, and fife and organ sounds; there was even a device that made wooden globes dance over the floor. This whole water machine was fed from a reservoir on the top of the hill behind, by way of the splendid cascade, which can be clearly seen in the present drawing.

While at this distance we cannot experience the full hydraulic effects of this spectacular construction, its visual magnificence is fully and appropriately captured by the mysterious artist who made this beautiful gouache, some four decades after the completion of the villa.