Beyond the Statue of Liberty: Bartholdi’s Fountain

BY Lorraine Ferrier TIMESeptember 12, 2026

The cast iron Bartholdi Fountain in Washington features myriad classical motifs, including tritons, turtles, spouting fish, and nereids or seawater nymphs. (John Brighenti/CC BY 2.0)

Visit Washington’s Bartholdi Fountain and Gardens at sundown for a water and light display, courtesy of the man who sculpted the Statue of Liberty.

French artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904) designed the “Fountain of Light and Water,” commonly known as the Bartholdi Fountain, for the first official world’s exposition held in America. Held in Philadelphia, the Centennial Exposition 1876 commemorated the 100th anniversary of America.

Epoch Times Photo — “The Fountain of Light and Water,” also known as the Bartholdi Fountain, 1876, by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. Cast iron; 30 feet tall. U.S. Botanic Garden, Washington. (John Brighenti/CC BY 2.0)

According to the United States Botanic Garden, “Bartholdi saw [the fountain’s] combination of iron, gas light and water as symbolically appropriate for a modern city.”

Just like his Statue of Liberty, Bartholdi’s 30-foot cast iron fountain included Renaissance and classical motifs. Three 11-foot nereids (water nymphs) hold the fountain bowl aloft, above their heads. Atop the fountain bowl, three crouching tritons (the merman sons of the Greek god Poseidon) dangle “wet” seaweed from their hands. A mural crown, in a crenelated city wall design, tops the fountain.

The three nereids resemble the famous ancient Greek caryatids, female figures that support the porch of the Erechtheion in Athens. But unlike their Greek counterparts, Bartholdi’s nereids are purely decorative; it’s the classical-style column behind them that structurally supports the fountain bowl. A closer look also reveals the leafy headdresses that adorn the graceful nereids. They stand on tiptoes among coral, seashells, and spouting fish, all of which indicate that these nereids are seawater nymphs. Turtles at the fountain base spout jets of water into the pool below.

In the 1880s, the Bartholdi Fountain was one of Washington’s first illuminated visitor attractions. Gas lamps surrounding the fountain bowl are long gone, and now electricity powers the light-fantastic 150-year-old fountain, shining ever brightly after its full restoration in 2011.

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Lorraine Ferrier

Lorraine Ferrier writes about fine arts and craftsmanship for The Epoch Times. She focuses on artists and artisans, primarily in North America and Europe, who imbue their works with beauty and traditional values. She's especially interested in giving a voice to the rare and lesser-known arts and crafts, in the hope that we can preserve our traditional art heritage. She lives and writes in a London suburb, in England.