Fontaine Médicis
The Fontaine Médicis is a Parisian fountain in the 6th arrondissement in the Jardin du Luxembourg . It bears the name of its client, Queen Maria , who came from the powerful Florentine dynasty de 'Medici .
history
The queen widow and regent Maria de 'Medici had the garden and the Palais du Luxembourg laid out as her widow's residence from 1611 after her husband Henry IV was murdered in 1610. The design corresponded to the Giardino di Boboli or the Palazzo Pitti in Maria's hometown Florence . The area south of the Seine was rather dry at the time. Only the completion of Aqueduc Médicis in 1623, which was built by the Florentine fountain master Thomas Francine , made it possible to irrigate the facility.
Francine erected the Grotte du Jardin du Luxembourg requested by the Queen on the eastern garden wall around 1630 , an installation typical of Italian Renaissance gardens. There are three niches between four columns with a water basin in the middle. Above the middle niche is the coat of arms of Maria de 'Medici, flanked by two river gods. The surface of the grotto was given a stalactite look that has been preserved to this day.
Over the next 200 years the garden and the grotto underwent several modifications. With the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon , the palace and garden lost their royal "task". Maria's coat of arms was removed and Napoleon had a bathing Venus set up in the middle niche and the water basin expanded across the entire width, turning the grotto into a water feature.
Grotte du Jardin du Luxembourg
Venus in the bath (1857)
Today's view
Present shape
The Haussmann'sche redesign of Paris eventually led to today's appearance of Fontaine Médicis . New streets made it necessary to demolish the well. After protests, however, he was only moved about 30 m. If the fountain once stood at the end of a line of sight that led past the palace, it is now at the same level.
The original grotto became the backdrop for a love story from ancient times: the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus kneels over the edge of a rock and discovers his beloved Galateia lying in the arms of the young man Akis . Auguste Ottin created a contrasting group of figures with a gigantic Polyphemus made of dark bronze above the smaller pair of lovers made of white marble. For the two side niches he created a faun and a huntress. The water flows over a cascade into a 50 m long, rectangular basin, which is framed by vases and grids. The coat of arms was put up again.
On the back of the now free-standing Fontaine Médicis was Fontaine de Léda grown by 1808th Due to Haussmann's plans, this wall fountain also lost its original location on Rue de Vaugirard .
Individual evidence
- La Fontaine Médicis (website of the French Senate)
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 53 ″ N , 2 ° 20 ′ 21 ″ E