charlesreeza: The Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens, ParisAround 1630, Marie de’
charlesreeza: The Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens, ParisAround 1630, Marie de’ Medici, the widow of Henry IV and mother and regent of King Louis XIII of France, had this fountain built to complement her new palace on the left bank of the Seine. By the beginning of the 19th century the fountain had fallen into disrepair. In 1811 Napoleon Bonaparte had it restored by the architect of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean Chalgrin. In 1864 the fountain was moved to make way for a new street and was redesigned by another architect, Alphonse de Gisors. He placed it at the end of a long basin of water and added new statues. The reclining figures at the top of the structure represent the rivers Rhone and Seine. The central group of statues by Auguste Ottin show the giant cyclops Polyphemus, in bronze, discovering the lovers Acis and Galatea, in white marble. The fountain was thoroughly cleaned in the summer of 2021, so it was gleaming when I took these photos on a beautiful day in October. -- source link