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Les Bains d'Apollon - France Île-de-France Versailles: Apollo Tended by the Nymphs. This is a large black and white antique copper etching of a mythological figure, believed to be from the 18th or 19th century, and looks to be from an old French book. It features the sculptural work of Francois Girardon depicting Apollo being tended by the nymphs in the grove of the Baths of Apollo, executed with the assistance of Thomas Regnaudin (1622-1706). Les Bains d'Apollon, also known as Apollo Tended by the Nymphs, is a historical story that originated in France in the Île-de-France region, specifically in the Palace of Versailles. It is a tale that revolves around a magnificent fountain sculpture that was commissioned by King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, during the 17th century. The story begins with Louis XIV, who was a patron of the arts and a lover of classical mythology. In 1661, he decided to embellish the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, which was his royal residence, with grand fountains and sculptures that would depict scenes from Greek and Roman mythology. One of the most prominent sculptures he commissioned was the fountain of Apollo Tended by the Nymphs, also known as Les Bains d'Apollon. The fountain was designed by the French artist Jean-Baptiste Tuby, and it depicts the god Apollo, the Greek god of the arts, surrounded by nymphs. Apollo is shown seated on a rock, with one arm raised, and he is being attended to by three nymphs who are bathing him. The sculpture is made of marble and is set within a large circular basin, with water flowing from the fountain and cascading around the figures, creating a breathtaking spectacle. The story behind the fountain of Apollo Tended by the Nymphs is rooted in classical mythology. In Greek mythology, Apollo was often associated with the arts, including music, poetry, and dance, as well as healing and prophecy. He was also considered the epitome of male beauty and youth. Nymphs, on the other hand, were female nature spirits who were believed to inhabit rivers, mountains, and other natural settings. They were often depicted as beautiful maidens who served as companions to the gods and were associated with fertility and the abundance of nature. In the sculpture, Apollo is shown as the embodiment of ideal male beauty, surrounded by nymphs who are attending to him, bathing and adorning him. The composition is meant to convey a sense of harmony, elegance, and perfection, which was highly valued during the Baroque period when the sculpture was created. The fountain of Apollo Tended by the Nymphs became one of the most iconic features of the Gardens of Versailles, and it remains a symbol of the opulence and grandeur of the French monarchy during the reign of Louis XIV. Today, visitors to the Palace of Versailles can still admire this exquisite fountain and appreciate the historical story it represents, as well as its significance in French art and cultural history. ***At our company, we are dedicated to enriching our customers' lives by discovering the most unique collectibles. One of our missions is to carefully curate and highlight the most interesting art and collectibles from around the world today. As art advisers, consultants, publishers, and connoisseurs of spectacular art and collectible stories, our role is to serve as intermediaries and provide a safe environment for buyers and sellers. We meticulously vet for art patrons and are committed to cataloging the world's exceptional art and sharing it with everyone.

The subject and title / Apollo Tended by the Nymphs, intended for the Grotto of Thetis is a sculpture by Francois Girardon. François Girardon (10 March 1628 – 1 September 1715) was a French sculptor of the Style Louis XIV or French Baroque, best known for his statues and busts of Louis XIV and for his statuary in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles. His talent attracted the attention of the Chancellor of Louis XIV, Pierre Séguier, a serious patron of the arts, who arranged for him to work in the studio of François Anguier, and later, from 1648 to 1650 to live and apprentice in Rome. There he saw Baroque sculpture and met Bernini, but he came to reject that style and moved instead toward classicism and the models of ancient Roman sculpture. In 1690, he became inspector general of works of sculpture, governing all royal sculptural commissions. His principal contribution was the group of statuary representing Apollo served by the Nymphs, (1666-1675), symbolizing the Sun King himself, placed in a grotto close to the Palace. The figure of Apollo was inspired in form by the Apollo Belvedere of the Vatican, and featured two groups of figures; Apollo surrounded by nymphs, and a second group, next to the grotto, showing The Horses of the Sun being conducted to their royal stable. A simple hunting lodging and later a small château with a moat occupied the site until 1661, when the first work expanding the château into a palace was carried out for Louis XIV. In 1682, when the palace had become large enough, the king moved the entire royal court and the French government to Versailles. Some of the palace furniture at this time was constructed of solid silver, but in 1689 much of it was melted down to pay for the cost of war. The Palace was stripped of all its furnishings after the French Revolution, but many pieces have been returned and many of the palace rooms have been restored. Creation of sculpture for the palace / It was Pierre Francastel who christened the most famous program of sculpture in the history of Versailles: the Grande Commande of 1674.1 The program consisted of twenty-four statues and was planned for the Parterre d'Eau, a square puzzle of basins that lay on the terrace in front of the main western facade for about ten years. The puzzle itself was designed by Andre Le N6tre or Charles Le Brun, or by the two artists working together, but the two dozen statues were designed by Le Brun alone. They break down into six quartets: the Elements, the Seasons, the Parts of the Day, the Parts of the World, the Temperaments of Man, and the Poems. The Grande Commande of 1674 was not the first program of statues in the gardens of Versailles, although it certainly was the largest and most elaborate from an iconographic point of view. It was launched in 1664, ten years before the Grande Commande. It consisted of eight statues, one-third the number of the later commission. It was carried out by two sculptors, not twenty-four or more. It called for the use of stone, not marble. It stood in a low, rather remote spot in the northern half of the gardens, far from the elevated stage of the chateau. This more modest program appealed to the playful and even somewhat ribald inclinations of the court. It casts a fresh light on the youthful world of Louis XIV, who in 1664 was just twenty-six years old. I will call it the Petite Commande in grateful acknowledgment of Francastel. Versailles in 1664 was a modest country house to which the king went with his closest friends to ride and hunt. The Petite Commande, a suite of statues of satyrs and hamadryads, embodied the rustic character of the place. The statues have always been appreciated for their rusticity, joie de vivre, and swagger, but little else. That they constituted a unified program has never before been proposed. That they entertained the king and his court with their erotic and often comical behavior has never before been commented on. That they challenged a certain enlightened class of viewers by engaging them in clever intellectual games has never before been considered. The statues were still standing at the Rondeau when Jean Le Pautre and FranCois Chauveau engraved them in the early to mid-1670s. The prints were published in the Cabinet du Roi, a series of folio volumes with illustrations of the artistic and scientific triumphs of the reign. Inscriptions in both French and Latin were composed by the Petite Academie, a committee of savants that advised the Batiments du Roi on matters of allegory and erudition.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_of_Versailles

The gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre. Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.



The French Ministry of Culture, the gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.



“Apollo attended by nymphs” by François Girardon and Thomas Regnaudin, ca. 1670



Bassin de Latone

Located on the east-west axis just west and below the Parterre d’Eau, is the Bassin de Latone. Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy, and constructed between 1668–1670, the fountain depicted an episode from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Latona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Zeus who responded by turning the Lycians into frogs. This episode from mythology was chosen as an allegory to the revolts of the Fronde, which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid’s story and this episode from French history is emphasized by the reference to “mud slinging” in a political context. The revolts of the Fronde – the word fronde also means slingshot – have been regarded as the origin of the use of the term “mud slinging” in a political context.



Grotte de Thétys
Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with the installation of the statuary by the Gilles Guérin, François Girardon, Thomas Regnaudin, Gaspard Marsy, and Balthazar Marsy, the grotto formed an important symbolic and technical component to the gardens. Symbolically, the Grotte de Thétys related to the myth of Apollo – and by that association to Louis XIV. It was as the cave of the sea nymph, Thetis, where Apollo rested after driving his chariot to light the sky. The grotto was a freestanding structure located just north of the château. The interior, which was decorated with shell-work to represent a sea cave, contained the statue group by the Marsy brothers depicting the sun god attended by nereids (central grouping) and his horses being groomed by attendants of Thetis (the two accompanying statue groups). Originally, these statues were set in three individual niches in the grotto and were surrounded by various fountains and water features.

Technically, the Grotte de Thétys played a critical role in the hydraulic system that supplied water to the garden. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir that stored water pumped from the Clagny pond and which fed the fountains lower in the garden via gravity.