Mathurin Moreau was born in Dijon in 1822 and died in Paris in 1912. The son of sculptor Jean-Baptiste Moreau, he was first exposed to sculpture in his father’s studio, then continued his studies at the École des beaux-arts de Paris. He created hundreds of models of decorative objects such as candelabras and funerary monuments for the Val d’Osne art foundry. He designed the model that was used to produce the Tourny fountain, one of the two copies of which stands in front of the National Assembly building in Québec City.
Artwork description
In the centre of the pool in Parc Outremont is a fountain made of iron founding portraying two cherubs draped in sinuously falling pieces of cloth. The central column of the fountain, around which the cherubs are placed, is decorated with plant motifs, whereas the pedestal supporting the sculpture is plain.
The fountain was cast at the Val d’Osne art foundry in Paris, the largest art foundry in France at the time. A number of Mathurin Moreau’s artworks were produced there, as Moreau was a shareholder in the company.