Fountain of Aescalapius, Villa Borghese
Rudolph Ruzicka American, born Czechoslovakia
Related author Fanny Davenport Rogers MacVeagh American
Not on view
We look here at a fountain in the Villa Borghese Gardens standing near a niche that shelters a statue of Escalapius. This is a proof of one of 43 wood engravings that Ruzicka made to illustrate "Fountains of Papal Rome," 1915 where it appears on page 188. Other images devoted to 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 with a Nymph" (MMA proof, 18.25.32)).
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."
