Artwork
Drawing of fountain
Drawing of fountain is a drawing by the Baroque artist Jean Eric Rehn. It dates from 1745 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The work is a paper drawing that records a monumental fountain.
About this work
Overview
The work is a paper drawing that records a monumental fountain. Executed with ink, pen and wash, the image captures the architectural form of a tall, cylindrical basin set on a low platform, topped by a smaller circular basin. Water is indicated as issuing from lion heads on a central shaft and from a jet in the upper basin, creating a sense of movement across the stone surfaces.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on the fountain’s ornamental architecture, emphasizing the sculpted lion heads and relief patterns that frame the water flow. Within the lower basin a faint pencil figure appears, holding a fishing pole or stick, suggesting a narrative element that juxtaposes human activity with the grandeur of the monument.
Technique & Style
The artist combines precise pen lines for the structural details with broader ink washes to model volume and the translucency of water. Light pencil shading underlies the drawing, providing depth without elaborate decorative flourishes, resulting in a clear yet economical rendering of the subject.
History & Provenance
The drawing is catalogued as a single-sheet work on paper, identified simply as a drawing of a fountain. No further documentation of its creation date, artist or ownership history is provided, indicating that it likely belongs to a collection of architectural studies.
Context
Fountain drawings were common in the study of public monuments and garden architecture, serving both as design references and as records of existing structures. The inclusion of a small human figure aligns with a tradition of inserting scale cues to convey the monument’s size.
Artist & collection
