La Fontaine Des Innocents : Histoire D'un Chef-D'oeuvre Parisien

Exhibition at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris, 24 April - 25 August 2024

The architectural history of the Fountain of the Innocents, an iconic monument in the Les Halles district, is closely linked to that of Parisian town planning and its development over the centuries. The first fountain, built in the Middle Ages, was replaced in 1549 by a new monument unveiled on the occasion of Henry II's royal entry into Paris. Decorated with reliefs by Jean Goujon and conceived as an ode to water in all its forms, the fountain was immediately recognised as a Renaissance masterpiece, and has continued to inspire artists over the centuries, including Ingres, Barye, Carpeaux, Doisneau, Atget and Cartier-Bresson. Completed by Augustin Pajou in the late 1780s, it was later moved and redesigned by the architect Gabriel Davioud.

This catalogue of the exhibition organised to mark the restoration of the fountain offers a history of the Fountain of the Innocents and a study of the sculpted decorations by Jean Goujon from this fountain, whose five nymphs are placed in dialogue with the three reliefs preserved in the Musée du Louvre since the early 19th century.