The two putti fountains were purchased by the Blisses from Paul Gouvert, a Parisian art dealer, for $4,000 on January 15, 1931. The fountains were installed that same year in the elliptical Aquia Creek limestone pools designed by Beatrix Farrand. Following Mildred Bliss’s changing taste and her admiration of Edith Wharton’s reflecting pool outside Paris, the fountains are French Rococo, and fit seamlessly into the aesthetic laid out by Farrand for Terrace D. One of the original two fountains was stolen from the garden on the night of August 25, 1978; local conservator Steven Tatti created a replica of the remaining fountain in April 1979.
Image: Photographer unknown, possibly 1970s
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