Annie C. Stewart Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Annie C. Stewart Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Clasgens, Frederick C., sculptor.

F. M. Schlim General Monument Works, contractor.

Annie C. Stewart Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Annie C. Stewart Memorial Drinking Fountain, (sculpture).

1924. Installed 1925.

Figures: Vermont white marble or Italian Carrara marble, painted; Fountain ornaments: cast stone; Base: Indiana limestone, and brick coated with aggregate cement.

Sculpture: approx. H. 9 ft. 4 in. x W. 4 ft.; Base: approx. H. 6 ft.; Basin: approx. diam. 24 ft.

(On base:) TRITON - ANNIE C. STEWART/MEMORIAL/FREDERICH J. CLASGENS SCULPTOR 1924.

A fountain with marble figures of a mermaid and triton riding a dolphin in the center. The mermaid holds a cornucopia from which water falls into a shell held by the triton. Originally two other tritons (one now missing) flanked the basin and served as drinking fountains. The other two tritons were mounted on bases that suggested the ocean floor with shells, sand, and rocks. One of the tritons held a conch shell in front of him with both hands. The other held a conch in his left hand and with his right hand held a smaller shell up to his lips, like a trumpet.

Homage -- Stewart, Annie C.

Literature -- Character -- Mermaid

Mythology -- Classical -- Triton

Animal -- Dolphin

Object -- Other -- Shell

Outdoor Sculpture -- Wisconsin -- Madison

Administered by City of Madison, Department of Public Works, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin 53701

Located Henry Vilas Park, South of 632 Wingra Street, Madison, Wisconsin

The fountain is a tribute to Annie Stewart who died April 8,1905 at the age of 38. Stewart was from a prominent Madison family and when her mother Mary Stewart died November 22, 1905, she left a $2,000 bequest for a memorial to her daughter. The site for the fountain was selected in 1917, but World War I delayed completion of the work until January 1925. The fountain was installed by F. M. Schlim General Monument Works (Madison, Wisconsin). Total cost of the project was $5,700. The sculpture was vandalized six years after its installation and again in 1943. Children play on the fountain.

IAS files contain articles from Capital Times (Madison, WI), Dec. 9, 1988 and The Brittingham-Vilas Dispatch, Fall 1989, Vol. I, no. 3; and city correspondence and contract (1988-1990) related to the restoration of the fountain.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, WI5003, 1989.

Monumental News, Oct., 1920, pg. 779.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Wisconsin survey, 1993.

City of Madison, Wisconsin, Department of Planning, Community, and Economic Development, 2017

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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