Tuesday 1 February 2011

February 2011 CDP Theme Day: Fountains


This is the Pyramid Fountain in the palace gardens, built by François Girardon in 1669-1672 after a drawing by Charles Le Brun. Its inspiration came from the Palazzo Pitti gardens in Florence. It used to be golden. No water in the winter...
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in this month's Theme Day and happy February!
P.S.: still time until midnight CET for those who'd like to try and win yesterday's cushion! The winner will be announced on 3 Feb.!
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Voici la fontaine de la pyramide qui se trouve sur le parterre du Nord au château. Elle fut exécutée par François Girardon en 1669-1772 sur un dessin de Charles Le Brun qui s'inspira d'une fontaine des jardins du palais Pitti à Florence. Autrefois, elle fut dorée. Pas d'eau en hiver...
P.S. : il est encore temps jusqu'à minuit pour tenter sa chance et gagner le coussin posté hier ! Résultats le 3 février !

46 comments:

andrew1860 said...

I love this Fountain! It reminds me of something from the little mermaid movie!

Olivier said...

Bon ben moi j'ai oublie le theme du mois...Superbe cette fontaine avec ces sculptures

Lowell said...

I was very impressed by all of the marvelous fountains at Versailles! The artistry is magnificent.

Re your comment on Florida Fanfare: Yes, I was driving but Lois Anne took the photo! :-)

Anonymous said...

That is an impressive fountain.

Sharon said...

Beautiful shots of beautiful fountains, Ciel. I like this theme.

Sharon

Lorrie said...

I'd love to be standing looking at this fountain in person just now. Instead I'll look at photos full of memories.

Kay L. Davies said...

I can hardly wait to see it myself. It's beautiful without water, and must be all the more beautiful with water!
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Thérèse said...

Joli presentoir!

EG CameraGirl said...

WOW! This is a beautiful fountain!

Becky said...

Lovely! I bet it looks amazing in the summer with water. You should post another summer picture of it in a few months. :)

Anonymous said...

Unusual! I see some angry looking fish in the middle and what appears to be lobsters holding up the top.

Jack said...

I expected that you would have a wonderful fountain to show us from Versailles, and you did. Beautiful.

Re your comment on HDP today, you are right, Hartford's downtown is pretty compact. The city is small, only 17 square miles and 120,000 people. But, the metropolitan area is 1.2 million (so I don't stick only to the city for photos on my blog).

Virginia said...

Well we all knew YOU"D have the most fabulous fountains of them all! :) And you did~
V

Bob Crowe said...

I wondered about the wisdom of having fountains as a theme in mid-winter, when most of them are turned off in the northern hemisphere. This one looks like a fishy wedding cake.

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

I spent a summer afternoon mesmerized and amazed by the fountains... nothing like it! I think that you had a real advantage in the theme this month with so many to choose from! Just lovely, mon amie!

Bisous,
Genie

Leif Hagen said...

A royally ravishing water fountain in front of the palais royale! C'est tellement formidable!

T. Becque said...

It's gorgeous and I love it against the blue of the roof too. Shoot, I completely forgot about theme day :(

Jim said...

Marvellous fountain.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Randy said...

That is wonderful. I don't think we have much here in the U.S. to compare.

Petrea Burchard said...

I think Versailles has the best fountains, to be sure!

Small City Scenes said...

Wow!! Very impressive. Not much to choose from out this way. Not like yours anyway. MB

Alain said...

Fontaines...à Versailles, c'est un peu facile...

Mark said...

With so many fountains to choose from you choose a beauty. I am visiting Versailles in April and hope to spend a lot more time in the garden. This is one fountain i wish to see.

Gunn said...

Elegant, and beautiful details!:)

Cergie said...

Pas d'eau ? Ils se la jouent petit bras c'est pas comme au cours d'Epinal où la fontaine "pièce montée" dégouline de stalactites durant les VRAIS hivers de l'Est...
(Ceci dit je comprends va-t-en trouver où se trouve la fuite dans la conduite pétée par le gel)

Chuck Pefley said...

Gorgeous! You've so many lovely fountains to pick from in France. I'm jealous!

Laurent said...

Magnifique ! Bonne journée glaciale !

SRQ said...

What a perfect theme day capture for VDP! This is lovely.

Malyss said...

Jolie structure en plateaux successifs! je souffre toujours pour les personnages en dessous, condamnés à tout porter pour l'eternité, ou presque.. Elle doit être belle quand elle est en eaux!

Birdman said...

Hard work for those 'guys' to keep this fountain up. They need Atlas' help.

Francisca said...

Impressionnante!

VP said...

The fountain is beautiful, but I wonder when one will be able to see some water flowing from that fountain: it was dry in summer as it is now in winter. Happy february sounds like an oxymoron, but if you like it...

Cezar and Léia said...

Bonjour Ciel,
This fountain is wonderful, I like a lot the Mythological theme there.However I think those little boys figures also have something close the angels.

Hugs
Léia

brattcat said...

Such rich detail. I'm afraid we have nothing like this in our little New England town.

Louis la Vache said...

Beautiful fountain, Ciel.

«Louis» forgot it is Theme Day - AGAIN!

BaysideLife said...

I knew you would have a beautiful fountain to share for this theme day. Lovely.

PS Congratulations on VDP second anniversary.

Virginia said...

Pardon chère Ciel for just now s topping by to wish you and your faboulously gorgeous blog a Joyeux Anniversaire!!
Bises,
V

Halcyon said...

C’est sure qu’il n’y a pas de manque de fontaines a Versailles ! J’aurais toujours voulu aller voir le spectacle en été mais je n’ai jamais eu le temps. Peut-être un jour... au moins ca me donne une raison de revenir.

Sharon said...

Simply gorgeous and a perfect choice!

Marie-Noyale said...

Ce joli petit cherubin porte la fontaine a lui seul!!

Quelle belle idee tu as eu pour ton anniversaire.!
Tu es douee en couture aussi!!
Bravo pour ces deux ans de blog et bravo pour cette super gentille idee.
(Je laisse la chance aux non Francophones et je ne suis pas assez reguliere pour le meriter!).

Unknown said...

Gorgeous, Ciel! Love both shots.

cieldequimper said...

@ Alain : je rigolerai moins quand le thème sera gratte-ciels...

Loree said...

I love that fountain. It reminds me of a very ornate wedding cake.

Rob Siemann said...

Superbe! Et bon anniversaire!

Tash said...

A true classic fountain. Looks a heavy burden for the lower levels. The fish face looks very familiar...will have to find its cousin here.
I like the close up of the 1st and the background of the 2nd - picture perfect.

Hilda said...

Such a fantastically elaborate and gorgeous fountain!