Flowers. A light garlanded mantle falls like a petal from her shoulders,
the floating edge following the line of the nymph's divided hair, so
that the maiden seems more like a flower itself than a flowerbearer.
However, she has the sculptural solidity necessary for her location and
resembles not some frail, wind-blown blossom, but the robust and buxom
California blooms that flourish in the court below her.



Beauty and the Beast
Fountain Detail, Court of Flowers



The Fountain of Beauty and the Beast in the Court of Flowers accentuates
the feeling of gentle fancy and the spirit of the fairytale that are the
mood of this and its companion court. It is by Edgar Walter, a
distinguished San Franciscan; he has given us a delightful, playful and
tender rendition of the old tale that has held the imagination of the
world since it first appeared in Straparola's "Piacevoli Notti" in 1550.
Since it was popularized by Madame le Prince de Beaumont in 1757, the
story has been translated into every language. The fountain shows, with
great restraint and refinement of handling, one of Beauty's
ministrations to the sick monster shortly before his transformation. It
is subject to the symbolism that may be read into the story itself; but
the note of fairy magic is the essential theme of the fountain. Quaint
fairy pipers, the unseen musicians of the Monster's Palace, stand about
the pedestal. The lower basin bears a frieze of charmed or enchanted
beasts, very lightly handled and not insistent. Their idea is continued
in the court by the gryphon decorations and Albert Laessle's