Fontaine de l'Observatoire

The proposal for the fountain emerged in 1866, coinciding with the construction of the grand avenue du Luxembourg. This project was a significant element of Baron Haussmann's extensive plan to rebuild Paris. Gabriel Davioud, a classical sculptor by training and the head of the Service of Parks and Plantations in Paris, oversaw the project.

The avenue du Luxembourg project envisioned the establishment of two squares, adorned with decorative lamps, columns, statues, and a fountain. This fountain, positioned on the tree-lined path connecting the Observatoire de Paris and the Palais du Luxembourg, was designed to complement the observatory. Davioud's guidance to the sculptor was to ensure the fountain did not obstruct views of the observatory or the palace.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875), a former student of François Rude and a Prix de Rome winner in 1854, was selected as the sculptor. His initial proposal for the fountain involved four standing female figures symbolizing the compass points, holding a celestial sphere. Dissatisfied with their static appearance, Carpeaux reimagined the figures as representations of the world's continents, infusing the sculpture with dynamic motion. The project also involved contributions from Eugène Legrain, Emmanuel Frémiet, and Louis Villeminot, each adding elements like the sphere, horses, and decorative garlands.

Work on the fountain's installation began in 1867. However, the global upheavals that France experienced in the early 1870s: the defeat in the war with Prussia, the enormous size of the contributions, and the uprising of the Paris Commune – temporarily sidelined the urban planning concerns of the prefecture. Nonetheless, in 1872, work on the new fountain resumed, and finally, in 1874, the Observatory Fountain was completed. Its creator, architect J.-B. Carpeaux, due to severe illness, did not take a direct part in the installation but remotely observed as his students perfected his last creation. Carpeaux died a year later.

The four figures of semi-nude girls symbolize the four parts of the world: Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Carpeaux did not include Australia in the dance because it disrupted the harmony, and the existence of Antarctica had not yet been proven at the time. The sculptor depicted the girls as typical representatives of their continents, with characteristic facial features and recognizable attributes. The figures of the girls are dynamic; they whirl in a dance and simultaneously rotate a cosmic sphere with a zodiac belt in their raised hands. At the center of the sphere is the Earth.

The fountain's basin is also richly adorned with sculptural groups by various masters. The pedestal, on which the dancing girls are placed, is decorated with garlands and friezes. Around the pedestal, pairs of sea horses leap towards the sky, and the outer basin is decorated with dolphins and turtles, from whose mouths water jets stream. All the bronze sculptures of the Observatory fountain were cast in the foundry workshop of the caster Matifat.

The initial reviews of the Observatory fountain were largely negative. The girls, in particular, received harsh criticism from the journalist, playwright, and publicist Jules Claretie, who called them "wild, vulgar, and wrinkly" women. However, exactly ten years later, he assessed the fountain as "one of Carpeaux's masterpieces".