Fountains in France provided drinking water to the inhabitants of the ancient Roman cities of France, and to French monasteries and villages during the Middle Ages. Later, they were symbols of royal power and grandeur in the gardens of the kings of France. Today, though they no longer provide drinking water, they decorate the squares and parks of French cities and towns.
Roman fountains
The first known fountains in France were built by Roman engineers in the first and second centuries A.D. in Glanum, Vaison-la-Romaine, Nîmes, and other towns of Provence. Like the fountains in Rome, they were fed with water from distant lakes and rivers aqueducts, sometimes more than fifty kilometres from the fountains. Remains of the aqueducts can be found outside Avignon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, Glanum, and other Roman towns.
Once the water arrived in the cities, it was channelled into lead pipes which distributed it to street fountains, or direct to Roman baths and villas. Examples of these fountains can be seen in the ruins of Glanum and the museum at Vaison-La-Romaine.
The Roman street fountains were free-standing stone blocks connected to lead pipes beneath the street; water flowed through the pipes and then upward to spouts in the blocks, pushed by water pressure from the higher sources of the water and drawn by the siphon effect of the water flowing out of the spigots. The water emerged from the mouth of a mask shaped like an animal or human face. The water flowed continually, was collected into pots or jars, and was taken home.
Beginning in the 5th century A.D., with the invasion of barbarian tribes into France, the Roman fountain system began to break down. Aqueducts were wrecked or fell into ruin, cities were abandoned, and the fountains usually stopped working, either from destruction or from neglect. French cities were not to have a reliable water distribution system until the 18th century.Plantier, pg. 42
French Medieval Fountains
During the Middle Ages, Roman aqueducts were wrecked or fell into decay, and many fountains in France stopped working, so fountains existed mainly in art and literature, or in secluded monasteries or palace gardens.
Fountains in the Middle Ages were associated with the source of life, purity, wisdom, innocence, and the Garden of Eden.Psalms 36:9; Proverbs 13:14; Revelation 22:1; Dante's Paradisio XXV 1-9. In illuminated manuscripts like the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1411–1416), the Garden of Eden was shown with a graceful gothic fountain in the centre (see illustration).
The cloister of a monastery was supposed to be a replica of the Garden of Eden, protected from the outside world. Simple fountains, called lavabos, were placed inside Medieval monasteries such as Le Thoronet Abbey in Provence and were used for ritual washing before religious services and meals.Molina, Nathalie, 1999: Le Thoronet Abbey, Monum - Editions du patrimoine.
Fountains were also found in the enclosed medieval jardins d'amour, "gardens of courtly love" - ornamental gardens used for courtship and relaxion. The medieval romance The Roman de la Rose describes a fountain in the center of an enclosed garden, feeding small streams bordered by flowers and fresh herbs.
Medieval fountains could also provide amusement. The gardens of the Counts of Artois at the Chateau de Herdin, built in 1295, contained famous fountains, called Les Merveilles de Herdin which could be triggered to drench surprised visitors.Allain and Christiany, L'art des jardins en Europe This type of "water joke" later became popular in Renaissance and baroque gardens.
The Fontaine de la Croix-de-Pierre in Rouen is one of the few existing medieval fountains in France. It was built in 1517 next to a stone cross erected by the local bishop in 1197. It was demolished by the Calvinists in 1562, but was rebuilt. In 1792, during the French Revolution, the cross at the top was replaced by a bust of Marat. but this was removed in 1795. In 1872 the fountain was rebuilt according to the original plans. The original fountain can be seen in the garden of the Rouen Museum of antiquities.Article on the Fontaine de la Croix-de-Pierre in French Wikipedia
French Village Fountains
While few fountains were built in French cities, where water was usually taken directly from the river or from wells. many fountains were built in villages, particularly in Provence. These fountains were originally located just outside or at the entrance to a village, at a spring, or close by, connected by an underground gallery. They were often built on the same site as an earlier Roman fountain, and the same basic designs were used from medieval times until the 19th century. Wall fountains were built at the spring, or against the wall of the building. They had a reservoir of water which was filled by gravity, and then the water poured out spouts, or canons, which were often decorated with mascarons, or masks, in the form of the heads of humans, animals or monsters.
Later, in the 16th century, a more sophisticated version of the wall fountain appeared, based on the design of ancient Roman street fountains. These new fountains showed the wealth and prestige of the town or village. and were usually placed in the central square, near the church. Inside the buffet, or the wall behind the fountain, was a hollow chamber called the bassin de repartition, connected by a pipe to the source of water below. The canon of the fountain was connected with the basin, with its entrance just below the water level in the basin. As the water poured out the canon, it would create a siphon, drawing water up the pipe and keeping the bassin de repartition filled.Plantier, pg. 57
As the water poured out the canon, it would be captured in an earthenware jar and carried home. The water not taken this way went into a stone abreuvoir, or basin, where it could be drunk by cattle, sheep or horses. The overflow water went then into a separate basin, a lavoir, where it could be used for washing clothes. The overflow water was then used for irrigating gardens. Since the traditional village way of washing clothes was to use wood cinders as a detergent, which were rich in potassium, the wash water was an efficient fertilizer for the gardens.
Another common village fountain design beginning in the 16th century was the fontaine ronde à fût, or barrel fountain. This type of fountain was illustrated on ancient Greek vases from the 6th century B.C. The fountain was free-standing, in the center of a square. It was composed of a circular stone basin, in the center of which was a stone column with a hollow cavity in the center for the bassin de repartition, connected to one or more canons. As the water poured from the canons, water was drawn by a siphon effect from the pipe below, keeping the bassin filled. The top of the fountain was covered by a stone cap, or couvercle, which could be removed to service the fountain.Plantier, pg. 79.
A third common type of village fountain was the fontaine à bulbe, or bulb fountain. The bulb fountain operated in the same way as the barrel fountain, except that the bassin de repartition was located in a separate stone container, usually bulb shape, placed on top of column. The canons of the fountain were attached to the bulb rather than the column. The masks through which the water flowed were frequently carved directly onto the stone of the bulb.
French Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance introduced a new kind of fountain to Europe, where the sculpture and decoration were as important as the water they supplied. They became works of art, and not just of engineering.
Between 1546 and 1549, the merchants of Paris built the first Renaissance-style fountain in Paris, the Fontaine des Innocents, to commemorate the ceremonial entry of King Henry II of France into the city. The fountain, which originally stood against the wall of the church of the Holy Innocents, was moved and rebuilt several times and now stands in a square near Les Halles. It is the oldest fountain in Paris.Marion Boudon, "La fontaine des Innocents", in Paris et ses fontaines, de la Renaissance à nos jours, 1995.
Henry constructed an Italian-style garden with a fountain shooting a vertical jet of water for his favorite mistress, Diane de Poitiers, next to the Château de Chenonceau (1556–1559). At the royal Château de Fontainebleau, he built another fountain with a bronze statue of Diane, goddess of the hunt, modeled after Diane de Poitiers.Le Guide du Patrimoine en France, Editions du Patrmoine, Centre des Monuments Nationaux, 2009
Later, after the death of Henry II, his widow, Catherine de' Medici, expelled Diana de Poitiers from Chenonceau and built her own fountain and garden there.
King Henry IV of France made an important contribution to French fountains by inviting an Italian hydraulic engineer, Tommaso Francini, who had worked on the fountains of the villa at Pratalino, to make fountains in France. Francini became a French citizen in 1600, built the Medici Fountain, and during the rule of the young King Louis XIII, he was raised to the position of Intendant général des Eaux et Fontaines of the King, a position which was hereditary. His descendants became the royal fountain designers for Louis XIII and for Louis XIV at Versailles.A. Muesset, Les Francinis, Paris, 1930, cited in Luigi Gallo, La présence italianne au 17e siècle, in Paris et ses fontaines de la Renaissance à nos jours, Collection Paris et son patrimoine, (1995).
The Renaissance style spread widely in France, as noblemen and members of court transformed their castles into Renaissance-style residences and laid out gardens and fountains. One example is found at the Château d'Opme, in the Auvergne near Clermont-Ferrand, where the treasurer of King Louis XIII, built a garden and a fountain, designed by Jean Androuet du Cerceau.
In 1630 another Medici, Marie de' Medici, the widow of Henry IV, built her own monumental fountain in Paris, the Medici Fountain, in the garden of the Palais du Luxembourg. That fountain still exists today, with a long basin of water and statues added in 1866.Luigi Gallo, La présence italianne au 17e siècle, in Paris et ses fontaines de la Renaissance à nos jours, Collection Paris et son patrimoine,
French Baroque fountains
In 1662, King Louis XIV began to build a new kind of garden, the Garden à la française, or French formal garden, at the Palace of Versailles. In this garden, the fountain played a central role. He used fountains to demonstrate the power of man over nature, and to illustrate the grandeur of his rule. In the Gardens of Versailles, instead of falling naturally into a basin, water was shot into the sky, or formed into the shape of a fan or bouquet. Dancing water was combined with music and fireworks to form a grand spectacle. These fountains were the work of the descendants of Tommaso Francini, the Italian hydraulic engineer who had come to France during the time of Henry IV and built the Medici Fountain and the Fountain of Diana at Fontainebleau.
Two fountains were the centerpieces of the Gardens of Versailles, both taken from the myths about Apollo, the sun god, the emblem of Louis XIV, and both symbolizing his power. The Fontaine Latone (1668–70) designed by André Le Nôtre and sculpted byGaspard and Balthazar Marsy, represents the story of how the peasants of Lycia tormented Latona and her children, Diana and Apollo, and were punished by being turned into frogs. This was a reminder of how French peasants had abused Louis's mother, Anne of Austria, during the uprising called the Fronde in the 1650s. When the fountain is turned on, sprays of water pour down on the peasants, who are frenzied as they are transformed into creatures.Allain and Christiany, L'art des jardins en Europe