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Charles Summers - River God Fountain - Fitzroy Gardens

Location Near Albert Street,, EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002 - Property No B6777 File Number B6777 Level State

[1/1] B6777 River God Fountain

Statement of Significance

The River God Fountain is of State Significance. It is a rare example of Charles Summer's use of cast stone in sculpture, and one of the few surviving public works by the most important sculptor working in the mid nineteenth century in Victoria. It is also significant as being the first and principal fountain erected in the newly developed Fitzroy Gardens. It also has historic significance as celebrating the establishment of the first reticulated water supply to Melbourne from the Yan Yean Reservoir in 1858.
Because of the unpopularity of many Victorian sculptures in the mid twentieth century, when twenty-one pieces of Summers' sculpture were removed from the National Gallery of Victoria "on the grounds that they were of little artistic merit", the River God Fountain is an important and rare example of the artist's Victorian work. The significance is not compromised by the fact that the basalt base has been rebuilt, since it has been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original. Eucalypts have been planted to coincide with early illustrations of the work.
Classified: 17/09/1996