Fontaine Gaillon, a work of Visconti
The Fontaine Gaillon is located on the wall of the building that houses a renowned restaurant of the same name, on Place Gaillon.
The restaurant and fountain are situated opposite the iconic restaurant Drouant, where the prestigious juries of the Goncourt and Renaudot literary prizes regularly meet.
The renowned architect Jean Beausire, in the service of King Louis XIV, built the first Gaillon Fountain in 1707, and named it Fontaine Louis le Grand in honour of the Sun King.
However, at the beginning of the 19th century, the fountain and the private mansion that flanked it were demolished.
In 1827, the celebrated architect Louis Tullius Joachim Visconti created a current fountain of exceptionally fine white marble, adorned with arabesques and delicate garlands.
This fountain boasts two basins: a smaller upper basin, surmounted by a sculpted group, overlooks a larger basin.
Georges Jacquot sculpted the fountain with a mythological scene, depicting a Triton riding a dolphin and brandishing a trident, a sculpture entitled “Jeune triton chevauchant sur un dauphin – Young Triton Riding a Dolphin.”
These basins stand in front of a large niche framed by a portico supported by two elegant Doric columns.
The pediment bears a dedication in Latin which reads:
Pristinum fontem, angustiori area amplificata
Communi utilitati Urbis que ornemento
Majus restituerunt proefectus et aediles
Anno MDCCCXXVIII
Unfortunately, the Gaillon Fountain was damaged during the Revolution of 1830 , but it was restored in 1900 and in 1971 under the supervision of Emmanuel Oberdoerffer, architect of the City of Paris.
Directions: 2nd district – Place Gaillon
Metro: Quatre-Septembre on Line 3
Coordinates: Lat 48.868995 – Long 2.334308
