Sir Richard Wallace called on Charles-Auguste Lebourg to design the caryatids that were to adorn the drinking water fountains, which he intended to offer to Parisians (the future Wallace fountains). The sculptor from Nantes had already worked in Paris on the Louvre Palace, the Trinité church, and the reconstruction of the Hôtel de Ville (‘Town Hall’). Although Lebourg specialised in the creation of busts, his best-known work is the caryatids. Published by the Val d’Osne art foundry (Haute-Marne), hundreds of Wallace fountains were installed in Paris from 1872. Five examples are now in Nantes.