The founding member of this dynasty, Thomas Francine (born Tommaso Francini) was summoned to France in 1599 by Henry of Bourbon (1553-1610), Henry IV was the first king of France of the Bourbon dynasty, reigning from 1589 until his assassination in 1610. He left the crown to his young son Louis XIII and the power to his second wife Marie de’ Medici, who was Regent from 1610 to 1614… Find out more to build the water features for the automata in the grottos in the terrace garden of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Francini arrived with his brothers Alessandro and Camillio and his cousin Orazio. The later members of the family included François, his son (1617-1688), Pierre-François (1654-1720), his grandson, François-Henri (1684-1781), his great-grandson, and Thomas François Honoré (1724-1780), his great-great-grandson.
Alongside Denis Jolly, who had been fountain engineer to Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680) was Superintendant of Finances and Minister to Louis XIII, then Louis XIV. He employed several artists for the work on Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, situated 50 km south-east of Paris. Arrested in 1661, he was sentenced to life imprisonment… Find out more at Vaux-le-Vicomte, François Francine designed the water features of the An artificial cave built in 1666, then destroyed to allow construction of the North Wing. The sculptures were moved to the Apollo’s Bath Grove… Find out more in 1664-65, his first major hydraulic work in Versailles. The work was composed of songbirds controlled by a water organ which caused the water to fall in a cascade or mushroom shape. Although demolished in 1676, the grotto went down in history.
In 1667 François Francine created three reservoirs not far from the one near the grotto to supply the large fountains in the main axis with water: Latona’s Fountain and Apollo’s Fountain.
In 1673 he designed the huge reservoirs beneath the Water Parterre, built by François d’Orbay (1634-1697) was an architect and principal collaborator then brief successor of Le Vau, before the arrival of Hardouin-Mansart in 1675., to supply the new fountains and pools in the gardens. These large vaulted constructions of cut stone are still used today to convey water via a complex network of lead pipes on Fountain display which is still held at Versailles, having lost none of its magic… Find out more.
François Francine had an impressively creative mind, as demonstrated by the interlacing water jets in the Grove of the Three Fountains, the waterfalls in the Ballroom Grove, and the 27-metre jet in the Dragon Fountain, the tallest in the garden. The water features with sculpted children and animals in the Maze Grove and the Water Theatre Grove were just as impressive, although sadly they no longer exist. Notably, in 1672, Versailles saw the creation of the first cast iron pipes in France.
Supplying water to the fountains posed a major problem for the king and his fountain engineers, and they considered diverting the River Eure. A large network of aqueducts and underground and aboveground reservoirs was designed around Versailles. Every lake and river from the town of Rambouillet to the Seine, where the famous This machine supplied even more water for the fountains on the estate of Marly that what was required for Versailles… Find out more was built, were used to supply water for the fountains, but even this was not enough. As a result of the insufficient supply of water, the Francines were forced to start up the fountains in turn as the king passed by, using a whistle blast as a signal for one to stop and the other to start. The same issue still poses a problem today.