Celebrating 150 years of the ‘Wallace’ fountains : Meet the Expert

Fascinating online lecture from the Wallace Collection looking at the drinking fountains which Sir Richard Wallace commissioned for the city of Paris.

The talk marked 150 years since the first fountain was installed and brought together Suzanne Higgott from the gallery and Barbara Lambesis from the Society of the Wallace Fountains.

Higgott took us through the design and the commissioning of the fountains and how they are based on French Renaissance and Neo-classical models. She outlined the symbolism on them.

Lambesis then talked about how her enthusiasm for the fountains came about and the celebrations for the anniversary in Paris. She also introduced us to the Society of Wallace Fountains and I was impressed that as well as aiming to preserve and maintain the pieces it also promotes philanthropy in the same spirit and making them a symbol for global and equal rights to clean water.

I must admit I hadn’t known about these fountains before booking the talk and had popped to see the one outside the gallery on my visit earlier in the week. I now can’t wait to get back to Paris and go hunting for them.

 

 

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