Fontana Blandusia, volgarmente detta Acquoria a Tivoli

Art Historical Context

Jacob Wilhelm Mechau's *Fontana Blandusia,garmente detta Acquoria Tivoli* (1794) is a etching that transports viewers to the lush landscapes of Tivoli, just outside Rome. This German artist, active during the late Enlightenment, specialized in detailed views of Italian scenery, drawing from his travels through classical sites. The title honors the Fountain of Blandusia—famously praised in Horace's ancient *Odes* for its refreshing waters—locally known as Acquoria, evoking Rome's enduring poetic and natural heritage. Created amid the Grand Tour era, when Northern Europeans flocked to Italy for artistic inspiration, Mechau's work reflects neoclassical admiration for antiquity blended with emerging Romantic sensibilities for dramatic landscapes. Tivoli, home to Hadrian's Villa and cascading fountains, symbolized idealized harmony between nature and human ingenuity. Mechau's etching technique on laid paper—marked by its subtle chain lines—allowed precise, atmospheric rendering of water, foliage, and stone within the intimate plate size of 28.4 x 37.7 cm. Acquired through the New Century Fund for the National Gallery of Art's portfolio collection, this print invites us to savor the 18th-century gaze on timeless beauty.

About the Artist

Jacob Wilhelm Mechau · 1745–1808

Jacob Wilhelm Mechau (1745–1808) was a German painter and draughtsman who became one of the more distinctive landscape artists working in Rome during the late eighteenth century. Born in Dresden in 1745, Mechau received his early artistic education in the rich environment of that city's court culture, which placed a high premium on classical training and technical refinement. He later made his way...