Dessein d'une Fontaine orné avec les quatre Elements (Design for a Fountain Decorated with the Four Elements)

c. 1755/1760

Dating: Approximate date range
Held at: National Gallery of Art
Medium: etching and engraving on laid paper
Dimensions: plate: 26.7 x 19.9 cm (10 1/2 x 7 13/16 in.) sheet: 40.3 x 24.7 cm (15 7/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
Collection no.: 1993.54.4
Attribution: By the artist
Image rights: CC0 1.0License details

Johann Esaias Nilson. Dessein d'une Fontaine orné avec les quatre Elements (Design for a Fountain Decorated with the Four Elements). Johann Esaias Nilson; This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the National Gallery of Art . Please see the Gallery's Open Access Policy .. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Esaias_Nilson,_Dessein_d%27une_Fontaine_orn%C3%A9_avec_les_quatre_Elements_(Design_for_a_Fountain_Decorated_with_the_Four_Elements),_c._1755-1760,_NGA_84083.jpg. CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Full-frame proportional resize and JPEG compression.

Collection: National Gallery of Art

About this artwork

Dessein d'une Fontaine orné avec les quatre Elements (Design for a Fountain Decorated with the Four Elements) — Johann Esaias Nilson. c. 1755/1760.

Medium: etching and engraving on laid paper.

Dimensions (museum labels retained): plate: 26.7 x 19.9 cm (10 1/2 x 7 13/16 in.) sheet: 40.3 x 24.7 cm (15 7/8 x 9 3/4 in.).

Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Accession 1993.54.4. Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund.

Museum holding does not establish current display.

Source: National Gallery of Art, CC0 collection metadata, retrieved 9 September 2026.

Location checked Sep 9, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.

Artwork sources

Image source