Agrippa’s Magnificent Water-lifting Appliance

In 1588, Agrippa’s water-lifting creation captivated the attention and approval of Andrea Bacci but that turned out to be one of the final references of the mechanism. It might have come to be dated once the Villa Medici was enabled to obtain water from the Acqua Felice, the early modern aqueduct, in 1592. In reality it was perhaps merely abandoned when Ferdinando went back to Florence in 1588 soon after the demise of his brother, Francesco di Medici, leading Ferdinando to give up his cardinalship to protect his seepage place as the upcoming Grand Duke of Tuscany. There might have been some other impressive water-related works in Renaissance gardens in the late sixteenth century, like fountains which played music, water caprices (or giochi d’acqua) and also scenographic water displays, but none of them was motorized by water which defied gravitation.