2-982-057 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Drinking-Fountain by Mr. J. Durham. A.R.A., in the exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1876. 'The bronze double drinking-fountain, designed by Mr. Joseph Durham...was originally intended by Mr. Durham as a free gift to the town of Kidderminster, but the site chosen for it by the sculptor was refused by the Corporation...The idea conveyed is that of two boys disporting themselves amongst water-flags and river-plants. One recoils at the sight of a toad and overturns the water-vase, while the other continues his mischievous pranks. A part of the design includes a single jet of water to rise from the centre three feet high. This pleasing composition avoids the too frequent device of drinking water coming out of the beak of a swan, the nostrils of a dolphin, or the mouth of a lion'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.