ABSTRACT
In seeking to restore public fountains to their rightful place in the visual culture of the early modern city, this chapter examines a group of fountains in Fribourg, Switzerland, executed in the middle decades of the sixteenth century by Hans Gieng and assistants. Through the making and placing of these fountains, it argues, Fribourgers sought, with the aid of old allies, not just political ones, but images, the sacraments, the Virgin, and saints, to uphold the 'good laws and customs of their fathers', while reinscribing their landscape with tangible manifestations of the often violent suppression of attempts at reform in and around their city. Like mid-sixteenth-century Fribourgers, Samson was involved in an attempt to purge hostile powers from the land of the 'chosen people'. Samson's betrayal by Delilah looked forward to Christ's betrayal by the Synagogue, while also serving as fodder for those espousing a life of virginity and celibacy, a pressing issue for contemporary Fribourgers.
