Fontaine Saint-Michel
Encyclopedia
The Fontaine Saint-Michel is a monumental fountain
located in Place Saint-Michel
in the 5th arrondissement in Paris. It was constructed in 1858-1860 during the French Second Empire by the architect Gabriel Davioud
.
overseen by Baron Haussmann
during the French Second Empire. In 1855 Haussmann completed an enormous new boulevard, originally called boulevard de Sébastopol-rive-gauche, now called Boulevard Saint-Michel
, which opened up the small place Pont-Saint-Michel into a much larger space. Haussmann asked the architect of the service of promenades and plantations of the prefecture, Gabriel Davioud, to design a fountain which would be appropriate in scale to the new square. As the architect of the prefecture, he was able to design not only the fountain but also the facades of the new buildings around it, giving coherence to the square, but he also had to deal with the demands of the prefet and city administration, which was paying for the project.
Davioud's original project was for a fountain dedicated to peace, located in the center of the square. The prefect authorities rejected this idea and asked him instead to build a fountain to hide the end wall of the building at the corner of boulevard Saint-Michel and Saint-André des Arts. This forced Davioud to adapt his plan to the proportions of that building.
The next design made by Davioud in 1856 provided the architectural structure of the fountain; a facade divided into four horizontal levels, similar to a triumphal arch
, with four Corinthian columns on high socles framing the central niche. The main cornice is surmounted by a French Renaissance
design feature, an inscribed tablet in a grand architectural framing. As the revised site was just off the axis of the bridge, Davioud created a visual compromise in a series of shallow bowed basins through which the water issuing from the rock under the supine body of Saint Michael's adversary spills. The water ends in a basin sunk into street level, with a curving front edge that softens the line of the monuments architectural base.
In the 1856 plan, Davioud placed a feminine statue of Peace into the central niche. The 1858 plan called for replacing Peace with a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte. This provoked furious opposition from the opponents of Louis-Napoleon, so later in 1858 Davioud proposed that the central figure be the Archangel Michael wrestling with the devil. This was agreed, construction began in June 1858, and the statue was inaugurated on August 15, 1860.
In September 1870, after the capture of Emperor Louis Napoleon by the Germans during the French-German War and his abdication, the fountain was threatened by a mob. On September 5, Davioud wrote an urgent letter to the Director of the Municipal Service of Promenades and Plantations: "A crowd of unarmed workers have just come to the Fontaine Saint-Michel..they apparently want to attack the fountain and want to deface the eagles and inscriptions on the upper part. What should I do?"
The fountain, along with other symbols of Louis Napoleon, was apparently attacked and damaged by mobs during the 1871 uprising and suppression of the Paris Commune
. In 1872, Davioud was authorized by the Prefecture to make urgent repairs to the fountain. It was restored again in 1893.
Four statues representing the cardinal virtues:
The fountain was different from most other Paris fountains because it used different colors of stone; columns of red marble from Languedoc
; green marble; blue stone from Soignies
; yellow stone from Saint-Yllie; and bronze statues.
The critic Alfred Darcel in Gazette des Beaux-Arts was less enthusiastic: he condemned the fountain for its choice of colors, its composition, what he called its incoherent style and iconography, and because, in his view, the concentration of so many different statues by different artists nullified the individual talents of the artists.
Other critics condemned the statue for its placement against a wall, instead of in the center of the Square. It was, said one, "a placement frequent in Paris, but vicious for monuments of this grandiose style."
In fact, the Fontaine Saint-Michel was the last monumental wall fountain built in Paris, the end of a traditional Renaissance style which had begun with the Medici Fountain
in the 17th century and continued with the Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons
in the 18th century. The later monumental fountains in Paris were all free-standing, in the centers of squares or parks.
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
located in Place Saint-Michel
Place Saint-Michel
The Place Saint-Michel is a public square in the Latin Quarter, on the borderline between the fifth and sixth arrondissements of Paris, France...
in the 5th arrondissement in Paris. It was constructed in 1858-1860 during the French Second Empire by the architect Gabriel Davioud
Gabriel Davioud
Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud was a French architect.Davioud was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Vaudoyer...
.
History
The fontaine Saint-Michel was part of the great project for the reconstruction of ParisHaussmann's renovation of Paris
Haussmann's Renovation of Paris, or the Haussmann Plan, was a modernization program of Paris commissioned by Napoléon III and led by the Seine prefect, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870...
overseen by Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
during the French Second Empire. In 1855 Haussmann completed an enormous new boulevard, originally called boulevard de Sébastopol-rive-gauche, now called Boulevard Saint-Michel
Boulevard Saint-Michel
The Boulevard Saint-Michel is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris . It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the pont Saint-Michel on the Seine river and the Place Saint-Michel, crosses the boulevard Saint-Germain and continues alongside the Sorbonne and the...
, which opened up the small place Pont-Saint-Michel into a much larger space. Haussmann asked the architect of the service of promenades and plantations of the prefecture, Gabriel Davioud, to design a fountain which would be appropriate in scale to the new square. As the architect of the prefecture, he was able to design not only the fountain but also the facades of the new buildings around it, giving coherence to the square, but he also had to deal with the demands of the prefet and city administration, which was paying for the project.
Davioud's original project was for a fountain dedicated to peace, located in the center of the square. The prefect authorities rejected this idea and asked him instead to build a fountain to hide the end wall of the building at the corner of boulevard Saint-Michel and Saint-André des Arts. This forced Davioud to adapt his plan to the proportions of that building.
The next design made by Davioud in 1856 provided the architectural structure of the fountain; a facade divided into four horizontal levels, similar to a triumphal arch
Triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...
, with four Corinthian columns on high socles framing the central niche. The main cornice is surmounted by a French Renaissance
French Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
design feature, an inscribed tablet in a grand architectural framing. As the revised site was just off the axis of the bridge, Davioud created a visual compromise in a series of shallow bowed basins through which the water issuing from the rock under the supine body of Saint Michael's adversary spills. The water ends in a basin sunk into street level, with a curving front edge that softens the line of the monuments architectural base.
In the 1856 plan, Davioud placed a feminine statue of Peace into the central niche. The 1858 plan called for replacing Peace with a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte. This provoked furious opposition from the opponents of Louis-Napoleon, so later in 1858 Davioud proposed that the central figure be the Archangel Michael wrestling with the devil. This was agreed, construction began in June 1858, and the statue was inaugurated on August 15, 1860.
In September 1870, after the capture of Emperor Louis Napoleon by the Germans during the French-German War and his abdication, the fountain was threatened by a mob. On September 5, Davioud wrote an urgent letter to the Director of the Municipal Service of Promenades and Plantations: "A crowd of unarmed workers have just come to the Fontaine Saint-Michel..they apparently want to attack the fountain and want to deface the eagles and inscriptions on the upper part. What should I do?"
The fountain, along with other symbols of Louis Napoleon, was apparently attacked and damaged by mobs during the 1871 uprising and suppression of the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
. In 1872, Davioud was authorized by the Prefecture to make urgent repairs to the fountain. It was restored again in 1893.
The Decoration of the Fountain
Davioud was himself a trained neoclassical sculptor from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the large scale (26 meters by 15 meters) and the elaborate iconography he created for the fountain required the work of nine different sculptors. It features:- Two winged dragons on either side of the fountain by Henri Alfred JacquemartHenri Alfred JacquemartHenri Alfred Marie Jacquemart , often known as Alfred Jacquemart, was a noted French sculptor and animalier....
. - The figure of Saint Michael and the devil by Francisque-Joseph Duret
- The rock under Saint Michael by Félix Saupin
- Bas-reliefs and ornamental foliage by Noémie Constant
Four statues representing the cardinal virtues:
- Statue of Prudence, holding a serpent and a mirror, by Jean-Auguste BarreJean-Auguste BarreJean Auguste Barre was a French sculptor and medalist. Born in Paris, he was trained by his father Jean-Jacques Barre , a medalist. Barre studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Jean-Pierre Cortot, and he is mainly known as a portrait sculptor.Exhibiting at the French Salon from 1831 to...
- Statue of Power, with a lion skin and club, by Claude-Jean Guillaume
- Statue of Justice, with a scale and sword, by Louis-Valentin Robert
- Statue of Temperance, by Charles-Alphonse Guméry
- Statues of Power and Moderation, holding the coat of arms of Paris, by Auguste-Hyacinthe DebayAuguste-Hyacinthe DebayAuguste-Hyacinthe Debay, a son of the eminent sculptor Jean Baptiste Joseph Debay, though really a sculptor, began life as an historical painter. He was born at Nantes in 1804, and in 1817, when only thirteen years of age, sent his first portraits to the Salon. After studying under Gros, he...
The fountain was different from most other Paris fountains because it used different colors of stone; columns of red marble from Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
; green marble; blue stone from Soignies
Soignies
Soignies is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut.The municipality is composed of the Town of Soignies together with the villages of Casteau, Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Neufvilles, Naast and Thieusies...
; yellow stone from Saint-Yllie; and bronze statues.
Critical reaction
The critical reaction to the fountain when it was opened in 1860 was divided. Much attention was given to the different colors: The critic of Le Monde Illustré wrote: "the monument constitutes, in sum, a venture into polychrome architecture such as one can see in Rome, where fountains of the same style were created by artists of the 18th century.".The critic Alfred Darcel in Gazette des Beaux-Arts was less enthusiastic: he condemned the fountain for its choice of colors, its composition, what he called its incoherent style and iconography, and because, in his view, the concentration of so many different statues by different artists nullified the individual talents of the artists.
Other critics condemned the statue for its placement against a wall, instead of in the center of the Square. It was, said one, "a placement frequent in Paris, but vicious for monuments of this grandiose style."
In fact, the Fontaine Saint-Michel was the last monumental wall fountain built in Paris, the end of a traditional Renaissance style which had begun with the Medici Fountain
Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France...
in the 17th century and continued with the Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons
Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons
The Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons is a monumental 18th-century public fountain, at 57-59 rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was executed by Edme Bouchardon, royal sculptor of King Louis XV , and opened in 1745...
in the 18th century. The later monumental fountains in Paris were all free-standing, in the centers of squares or parks.