La fontaine des Innocents - Fountains on Waymarking.com

[FR] Elle fut d'abord implantée au croisement de la rue Saint-Denis et de la rue aux Fers (partie de l'actuelle rue Berger). Adossée à l’église des Saints-Innocents, elle ne possédait alors que trois arcades ornées de nymphes et de naïades.

A la fin du XVIIe siècle, on déplaça la fontaine pour l'installer sur la place des Innocents récemment créée. Il fut donc nécessaire de sculpter une quatrième face à la fontaine, travail exécuté en 1788 par Augustin Pajou, qui s'efforça de retrouver la même inspiration que son prédécesseur.

Lorsqu'en 1858 on créa un square pour remplacer le marché, on déplaça à nouveau la fontaine de quelques mètres pour l'implanter au centre de ce nouveau square. On ajouta un piédestal à six vasques sur chaque face.

Sur chacune des trois faces originales, des pilastres jumelés d'ordre corinthien encadrent une arcade surmontée d'un attique et d'un fronton triangulaire. Les naïades au corps voilé, en bas-relief, s'insèrent entre les pilastres. Chacun des attiques est décoré de scènes mythologiques relatives aux sources et fontaines.

La quatrième face, de 1788, conserve la même ordonnance que les trois autres d'origine. Pajou prit pour modèle la statue de la Paix, de Goujon, que l'on peut admirer au Musée du Louvre.

[EN] Named for the cemetery originally located at the site, the Fontaine des Innocents (Fountain of the Innocents) is a beautiful Renaissance structure that is certainly worth a visit during your tour of Paris.

The Cimetière des Saint-Innocents was, for more than six centuries, the graveyard of Paris. Located inside the medieval walls, it was situated close to the marketplace at Les Halles, now the site of the Forum des Halles.

Designed and sculpted by architect Jean Goujon, the fountain was created between 1546 and 1549. It was built into a wall at the intersection of Rue St. Denis and Rue au Fers (now Rue Berger). The French Mannerist sculptor and architect was one of the main figures in French Renaissance art, becoming the official Sculptor to King Henry II in 1547. Besides the fountain, Goujon’s most famous works include the sculptural decorations designed for the western extension of the Louvre in the 1550s.

As part of the design of the last Renaissance fountain in Paris, Goujon sculpted Henry II’s Coat of Arms and the first letter of his name on the fountain. He also paid tribute to Catherine de Medici in the same manner. The nymphs that Goujon included on each side of the Fontaine des Innocents are typical of the Mannerist style – tall and thin. Angels decorate the arch as do traditional “putti” – naked, plump little boys with wings – very common in Renaissance and Mannerist works.

The fountain was relocated to the center of the Square des Innocents just south of Les Halles. The square was created two years earlier at the site of a graveyard, le Cimetière des Innocents (cemetery of the innocent). The cemetery is thought to have been a children's cemetery, hence the name.

After the relocation, a fourth side was sculpted by Augustin Pajou to match the existing sides, as previously there were only three sides because the fountain was set into a wall.

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