BY ALPHONSE-HENRI NELSON (1854-1919), PARIS, CIRCA 1900

The present lot relates to a fountain executed by Jean-Baptiste Tubi in 1672 after designs by Le Brun. The fountain was one from a project for the entrance of the Thetre d'Eau at Versailles. Tubi (1635-1700) was one of the most prominent sculptors of his time and received many royal commissions from Louis XIV. In 1750 the Thetre d'Eau was destroyed and the sculptures were dispersed. Tubi's fountain was later acquired by the National Gallery of Art, Washington (see F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries, London, 1987, p. 337, fig. 28.).