CAST BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE, AFTER JEAN GOUJON, LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

The present set of bronze plaques are copied from four of the bas-reliefs on Jean Goujon's celebrated Fontaine des Innocents in Paris. Begun in 1548, and replacing an existing fountain dating back to the reign of Philippe Auguste, the monument was designed in collaboration with the architect Pierre Lescot to commemorate the entry into Paris of the newly-crowned Henry II. With their pitchers of water, the nymphs depicted in the reliefs are representative of the rivers of France. Previously three-sided and erected against a wall, the fountain was moved and modified in 1858, at which time Barbedienne probably began producing bronze copies of the reliefs.