The Observatory Fountain. Four nude female figures support a celestial sphere and wild horses gallop through jets of water. Paris, France.
The monumental Observatory fountain near the Jardin du Luxembourg was created through the collaborative work of several prominent artists and sculptors. The fountain was proposed in 1866 and was part of the scheme to create a new grand tree lined avenue along an axis linking the Palais du Luxembourg with the Observertoire de Paris. This was one of elements of Baron Haussmanns grand plan for the reconstruction of Paris. The Project was under the direction of Gabriel Davioud who was responsible for the design of the fountains, squares, gates, lamp-posts, benches, pavilions and other architectural details in Paris parks, gardens, and plantations during the Second French Empire. The sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was chosen to design the center piece of the fountain, four nude female figures representing the four corners of the earth holding aloft a giant celestial sphere. The sphere itself was the work of another sculptor Eugène Legrain, who was a student of Carpeaux. Another sculptor, Emmanuel Frémiet designed the dolphins, turtles and galloping horses in the pool below the statue, and yet another Louis Villeminot greated the garlands of seashells and aquatic plants which decorate the pool of the fountain. Work on the project was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and the uprising of the Paris Commune but resumed in 1872 and completed in1874. Carpeaux who was in poor health watched from a distance as the statues were installed in the fountain, but sadly he died the following year.
Size: 2848px × 4287px
Location: Avenue de l’Observetoire, Jardin Marco Polo, Observatory Garden, 6th arrondissement, Paris, France.
Photo credit: © Andrew Wood / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 6th, andrew, arrondissement, art, artist, artists, arts, blue, bronze, capital, carpeaux, celestial, chestnut, cities, city, color, colour, culture, davioud, de, des, droplets, du, emmanuel, empire, equine, eugène, europe, european, female, figures, fontaine, fountain, fountains, france, french, frémiet, gabriel, galloping, garden, gardens, green, historic, historical, history, horses, image, jardin, jean-baptiste, jets, landmark, landmarks, legrain, lobservatoire, louis, luxembourg, marco, metal, monde, monument, monumental, monuments, naked, neoclassical, neoclassicism, nude, nudes, observatory, outdoors, paris, parisian, park, parks, parties, parts, polo, quatre, romantic, romanticism, sculptor, sculptors, sculpture, sculptures, signs, sky, sphere, spouting, spray, spraying, statue, statues, style, trees, urban, villeminot, water, women, wood, world, zodiac, Île, “1867-1874”
