The exhibition poster of a lady holding a jug on her shoulder with water streaming out in ribbons caught my consideration. The Musée Carnavalet’s poster for La Fontaine des Innocents drew me in with picture and the subtitle: “Histoires d’un chef d’œuvre Parisien” (tales of a Parisian masterpiece). I handed the fountain typically on my approach to Les Halles this previous 12 months. It was surrounded by corrugated aluminum and photographs. Now, I linked the 2: the exhibition and the renovation. The fountain I had taken as a right as at all times being there instantly turned a hunt for extra solutions, a journey by means of French Renaissance historical past and an enlargement of my Parisian data. The exhibition opened new doorways for my curiosity for the tales behind the fountain.
What you will note within the exhibit
The exhibition (till August 25, 2024) presents the lifetime of considered one of Paris’s oldest fountains, its motion not less than thrice, its morphing with the rhythm of time, and the affect that Goujon’s sculptures had in Parisian artwork. The exhibition is a fast and detailed research of sculptural artwork of the human type. It covers the 14th to nineteenth centuries. Museum labels for adults and kids are written in English, English and Spanish.
The morphing of the fountain started in 1786 with a design change when the Holy Innocents Cemetery was eliminated. The Ourcq Canal constructed in 1809 provided the Fontaine with consuming water for the Marché des Innocents. The fountain was the guts and soul of the Marché des Innocents: the fruit and vegetable markets.
The unique nymphs and vertical bas-reliefs from the unique 1548 fountain have been eliminated to the Louvre in 1818. In 1858, Marché des Innocents was taken aside to make method for Victor Baltard’s lined market of metallic and glass pavilions. In 1859 the fountain was moved a number of meters to the east. Earlier than another transfer to its current location within the nineteenth century, it obtained historic monument standing in 1862.
As a part of the exhibition, restoration demonstrations utilizing plaster casts are held on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The conservators within the workshop enable guests to look at the technical artwork of preserving monuments, e.g., utilizing a micro-vacuum approach eradicating mud and plaster, making use of absorbant gels and the usage of low-pressure water vapour. A video presents the restoration strategies on different days. After the exhibit closes Goujon’s works are seen on the Louvre and the Musée Carnavalet. A go to to the exhibition is definitely worth the go to.
Who was Jean Goujon?
Little is thought about Goujon’s private life from his doable start in Normandy in 1510, to his debated dying. His possible finish got here when he and different Huguenots fled Paris through the French Wars of Faith. Current proof reveals he died in Bologna, Italy, round 1562 . Or you might have the dramatic legend of his being killed on the scaffolding of the fountain through the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Bloodbath in 1572.
Goujon’s profession started together with his first documented commissions in Rouen, France, between 1540 and 1542. Replicas of his work are seen within the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois throughout from the Louvre (metro rue de Rivoli), La Fontaine des Innocents and Louvre masterpieces. The legacy he left leaves no query of his fashion, approach and creativeness.
What units his sculptures aside
Goujon profoundly influenced many later artists together with his sinuous, fluid motion of material. Even sculptures standing nonetheless appear to maneuver. For the fountain sculptures, the water appears to observe the human type. Some might evaluate him to Greek sculptures. Nonetheless, within the 1500’s Greece was managed by the Ottoman Empire, which allowed no overseas guests. His work was his creativeness.
Echoes of Goujon’s fashion is clear in numerous Parisian landmarks proven on the exhibition. For example, Auguste Préault’s reduction sculpture of Ophelia, Jean-Guillaume Moitte’s neo-classical fashions for the tomb of a fallen common or Augustin Pajou’s bas-relief over doorways on the former Hôtel de Voyer d’Argenson all draw from Goujon’s inventive legacy. Extra not too long ago, his affect is obvious in Jean-Paul Goude’s {photograph} 1992 Chanel fragrance (Coco) commercial of Vanessa Paradis. Goude’s inspiration got here from “La Supply” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1856), which traces its supply again to considered one of Goujon’s fountain nymphs.
Subsequent up for me is the treasure hunt on the Louvre discovering his different works based mostly on the Wikipedia photographs. Take pleasure in!
Extra info on Jean Goujon
“Renewal of Ardour” Nationwide Museum of the Renaissance – Château d’Écouen (price a day journey go to)
Museum of the Renaissance video of the Renewal of Ardour exhibition (Throughout confinement the museum was closed.)
Extra detailed historical past and morphing of La Fontaine des Innocents. Some dates might differ from the exhibition’s presentation. It’s an learn nonetheless.
