Born in Pennsylvania and educated in Europe, Anna Coleman Watts Ladd moved to Boston in 1905, eventually becoming one of the city’s most prolific sculptors. Her ambition was to make art more accessible to the public. These boisterous figures, named after the son of the sea god Poseidon, wrestle among spurts of water when the fountain is turned on. Ladd also engaged in more serious projects; for example, she worked with the American Red Cross to fashion masks for World War I veterans who had suffered disfiguring facial injuries. This 1922 bronze fountain was originally situated at the current site of the White Memorial across from the home of Bostonian Mrs. Boylston Beal, who donated the fountain to the public after seeing it exhibited in San Francisco. The work was relocated to its current site in 1924.