Parque Genovés - fountain with the umbrella children - Cadiz

This group of statues depicts Paul and Virginie in the 1788 novel "Paul et Virginie" by the Frenchman Jácques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre . The story: Pablo and Virginia are two childhood friends who innocently fall in love, but die tragically . come when the ship "Le Saint-Geran" in which they traveled is shipwrecked . All this is based on a real event that took place in the year 1744.

The image shows a couple of children holding each other's arms and sheltering from the rain under an umbrella . The girl wears a scarf on her head and pulls up her dress , while the boy carries the umbrella with his trousers rolled up , both barefoot and standing on a small pedestal covered with plants.

The iconography depicts a childhood chapter of the main characters, whose moving story has a tragic ending, which is repeated in groups of statues in various cities around the world.

The fountain consists of statues in terracotta supporting a metal umbrella whose central bar, at the height of the ribs, sprays a jet of water down the entire outside of the umbrella and falls around the statues, perfecting the rain effect against which they are protected. is reached.

Willem Vandenameele