Design for a Gothic Fountain (c. 1470): Art, History and Details

Design for a Gothic Fountain (c. 1470) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master W with the Key (Netherlandish, active about 1465–1490).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Early engravings indicate strong connections among goldsmiths, architects, and engravers. Architectural engravings like this one have been linked to the workshop environment of Gothic cathedrals built in the 1400s, notable for their pointed arches and intricate stained glass. Such engravings may have been used to transfer or document designs. This example may depict a Gothic table fountain, with water flowing from gargoyle heads into square basins below. Surviving prints suggest that the artist was part of the circle of Duke Charles the Bold (1433–1477), who championed technological advancements and luxurious displays of wealth at the Burgundian court.

Object facts

• Title: Design for a Gothic Fountain
• Date: c. 1470
• Creator attribution: Master W with the Key (Netherlandish, active about 1465–1490)
• Culture: Flanders
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 23.3 x 7.5 cm (9 3/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Sheet: 23.6 x 10.8 cm (9 5/16 x 4 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1937.565

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Francis, Henry S. “A Gothic Fountain Design by the Goldsmith-Engraver Monogrammist [Unrepresentable Symbol].” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 26, no. 7 (July 1939): 119–121.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.