I can recall the American talk show host, Johnny Carson, saying that he couldn't understand the appeal of fountains, he said that fountains just made him need to urinate; I expect that many people agree with him. In order to understand the emphasis placed upon fountains in the formal gardens of Europe, you have to see fountains as displays of technology. People always saw fountains as beautiful focal points for gardens, but they were also impressed by the amount of effort and ingenuity which it took to create fountains.
The fountains of Versailles were intended to show the world that Louis XIV was the most powerful monarch in Europe. Louis XIV pushed the technology of his time to its limits in his attempts to keep the fountains of Versailles playing. Louis XIV never achieved his goal, but the Machine de Marly awed all of Europe, and because the fountains couldn't constantly play, they were ornamented by the finest sculptors in France. Louis XIV turned his technological failure into an artistic triumph.
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