Titelblad: Fonteines et Cuuettes - Jean Lepautre

A detailed seventeenth-century etching by Jean Lepautre, depicting a grand fountain design intended for use by architects and decorative artists.

This etching by Jean Lepautre serves as a title page for a series of designs focused on fountains and basins. Lepautre was a prolific French draughtsman and printmaker whose work provided a visual vocabulary for the decorative arts during the reign of Louis XIV. His output was instrumental in the dissemination of the Baroque style across Europe, offering craftsmen and architects a catalogue of motifs for interior and exterior ornamentation.

The composition displays a grand, theatrical fountain as its central subject. Figures in classical attire surround the basin, which is adorned with sculptural elements and water-spouting creatures. The architecture surrounding the fountain is rendered with precise, controlled lines, typical of Lepautre's technical approach to etching. The frame itself is a decorative element, featuring a cartouche at the bottom that contains the publication details, including the publisher's name, P. Mariette, and the location on Rue Saint-Jacques in Paris.

Lepautre's work is characterised by a high degree of order and symmetry. He employs a system of hatching and cross-hatching to define form and shadow, creating a sense of volume within the architectural space. The figures are posed in a manner consistent with the period's interest in classical antiquity, yet they function primarily as scale references for the elaborate fountain design. This print is a representative example of the ornamental print culture of the seventeenth century, where such sheets were collected by designers, silversmiths, and architects to inform their own creative projects. The clarity of the line work ensures that the details of the fountain's construction remain legible, reflecting the practical purpose of these prints as instructional or inspirational tools for the decorative arts.