Agrippa's Astonishing, but Mostly Forgotten Water-Lifting Mechanism

In 1588, Agrippa’s water-lifting invention lured the interest and admiration of Andrea Bacci but that turned out to be one of the last mentions of the device. Just years later, in 1592, the earliest modern Roman waterway, the Acqua Felice, was attached to the Medici’s villa, perhaps making the device obsolete. The more plausible reason is that the unit was discontinued once Franceso di Medici, Ferdinando’s siblingdied in (find) 1588, leading him to give up his role as cardinal and go back to Florence where he accepted the throne as the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Renaissance landscapes of the later part of the 16th century were home to works such as musical water fountains, scenographic water displays and water caprices (giochi d’acqua), but these weren’t outfitted with water in ways that went against gravitation itself.