Joseph James Darlington Fountain
Washington DC has been popular for its numerous establishments including its series of monument. It is considered as one of the simple yet elegant monuments found around town. For quite some time, the fountain has been reviewed with just a few sentences by the press in the locals. A lot of newspaper companies around town feature and write about the Joseph James Darlington Fountain once or even twice in ten years. All that is said all the time about the Joseph James Darlington Fountain is that it has a fawn and a nymph with the statue being nude.
The statue was made in honor of Joseph James Darlington. It used to look not so good but through time filled with repairs and renovations, the Joseph James Darlington Fountain looks way better now. Here are just a few of the noted articles made for the Joseph James Darlington Fountain as quoted:
Chicago Tribute wrote in July 3, 1988:
"The voluptuous nymph in Judiciary Square, honoring Joseph Darlington, one of Washington's most prominent 19th Century lawyers, could easily grace the centerfold of Playboy."
Philadelphia Inquirer wrote in 1997:
"On the north side of the courthouse is a deteriorating statue of a fawn and a nymph. The nymph is naked -- a fact that caused a bit of public outrage when the statue was put on display in 1923 to honor local lawyer Joseph Darlington."
Washington Post wrote in 1999:
"The Joseph Darlington Fountain near Judiciary Square is corroded and missing gold, and its basin collects trash."
Washington Times wrote in 2000:
"The Darlington Fountain in Judiciary Park at Fifth and D streets NW, a beautiful fountain with a golden Greek nymph, was erected in 1922 in honor of Joseph James Darlington, a prominent jurist. It was recently refurbished so that it practically dazzles in the sunlight of Judiciary Square, but it still does not function as a fountain.”
Washington DC’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities was the one who made plans of repairing the entire sculpture and achieved a gratifying recognition for the job done. It was totally praised by a lot of critiques.
It was also with the research of Washington Times that everyone knew who the creator was behind the said monument. It was Carl Paul Jennewein who took fees from just the amount of supplies he needed for the construction. His justification of the nymph being naked is that she was taken directly from God’s hands instead of being made from a dressmaker, hence she has to appear naked.
Carl Paul was also the creator behind the Spirit of Justice statue near the Justice Department which became utterly popular by year 2002 with the help of Gen. John Ashcroft. It was a 31 year old engineer who chose to have some fun time with the decorative plan of Mr. Ashcroft having the statue beclothed. He displayed a page on the Internet which features the nymph of the fountain with all the blue cartoon effect of curtains covering her.