{"id":107971,"date":"2024-12-16T09:38:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T08:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pipat-antiquites.fr\/?p=107971"},"modified":"2024-12-16T09:52:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T08:52:15","slug":"bronze-triton-sculpture-versailles-garden-girardon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pipat-antiquites.fr\/en\/bronze-triton-sculpture-versailles-garden-girardon\/","title":{"rendered":"A bronze triton after the sculptures of Fran\u00e7ois Girardon (1628 – 1715) in Versailles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When Andr\u00e9 Le N\u00f4tre (1613 – 1700) began to design and shape the gardens of Versailles, attention was obviously focused on the spectacular water features that would soon become the pride of King Louis XIV and one of Versailles’ greatest celebrities.<\/div>\n
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Each pool was installed in the gardens according to a cleverly designed program, featuring the mythological stories of a glorified antiquity, as a metaphor for the many facets of the king’s omnipotence. The palace installed on a perspective tracing a west axis (Marble Courtyard and King’s Chamber) and east (Grand Canal), the King wakes and falls asleep as the sun rises and sets. On both sides, on the garden side, a program was deployed that required several years of work and mobilized the greatest artists of the time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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L\u2019All\u00e9e d\u2019eau<\/h2>\n

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In 1661, Andr\u00e9 Le N\u00f4tre had barely finished Nicolas Fouquet’s gardens when he was already back at work at Versailles in 1662. Two years later, in 1664, eighteen years before Louis XIV and the court settled permanently at Versailles, the king’s gardener began to design the All\u00e9e d’eau, also known as the Cascade de la Pyramide. The whole was set up on the northern parterre, whose regular slope led first to the Bassin du Dragon, then to the immense Bassin de Neptune. The Bassin de la Pyramide was installed in 1671.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This path traces the epic of Apollo, from his fight against the serpent Python – narrated by the Dragon Basin – to the victory of the god and the creation of his sanctuary, to the place of the death of the reptile, and finally, to the installation of the priestess, the Pythia of Delphi.<\/div>\n
Apollo, god of Light, leaves no shadow, which is why he is also the god of Truth. When he has his sanctuary built, where anyone can ask all sorts of questions to the Pythia, he thus allows mortals to have access to knowledge. The words of the Pythia are however very enigmatic, sibylline, and need to be interpreted. Accessing knowledge, the word of the god, is thus a long, tedious journey. Like a pyramid, this experience allows each person to successively climb degrees of understanding, which is why this form is used here to embody spiritual elevation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The plan of the parterre truly moves the visitor from the bottom to the top, from the lower part of the Dragon Basin to the heights of the Pyramid Basin, installed opposite the North Wing. Thus the lead fountain of this latter basin is designed to recall its link with Apollo. Four meters high, it is crowned with a basin carried by four crayfish resting on a second basin carried by four dolphins, animals dedicated to the god. Below the latter, a third basin is supported by four young tritons, themselves installed on a basin carried by four adult tritons, from which our bronze example is inspired.<\/div>\n
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When the fountain is filled with water, the latter gushes out and “forms like so many crystal bells which widen as they descend to the bottom” (F\u00e9libien, 1674), thus forming a liquid pyramid. The overflow of water fed the Nymphs\u2019 Basin below as well as the fourteen fountains of the All\u00e9e which were placed on the same hydraulic network.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Tritons of the Pyramid Basin<\/h2>\n

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The adult tritons in this basin mark their affiliation with Apollo by their crown and their belt of laurel leaves, another famous attribute of the god.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”107612″ caption=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”113889″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”206784″]Girardon\u2019s drawings reveal the research of the Baroque movement of this second half of the 17th century. The twists of the bodies, the research and the learned opposition of curves and counter-curves create a turbulent farandole that becomes even more animated under the waterfall.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”107616″ caption=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”148885″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”467080″]Our bronze is in this a living interpretation of these rapid newts, and it would undoubtedly not have been out of place in the eyes of a demanding Fran\u00e7ois Girardon![\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”107602″ caption=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”496018″][vc_button button_color=”accent” border_width=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”204186″ button_color_type=”uncode-palette” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fpipat-antiquites.fr%2Ffr%2Fobjets%2Fsculpture-bronze-de-bassin-fontaine-figurant-un-triton-dapres-francois-girardon-versailles%2F|title:Sculpture%20de%20bassin%20en%20bronze%20figurant%20un%20triton%2C%20fin%20XVIIIe%20%2F%20d%C3%A9but%20XIXe%20si%C3%A8cle|target:_blank|”]Buy This Bronze[\/vc_button][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”184553″]<\/p>\n

While in Versailles the project of making the lead fountain a bronze fountain was considered for the Pyramid Basin in 1684, it was never realized. However, we know from the archives that the fountain was gilded and bronzed when it was installed in 1671. The elements of the fountain were regularly rebronzed in the 17th and 18th centuries. In November 1822, the whole was described as being in a “state of almost total destruction”. It was then completely removed and restored. It was perhaps on this occasion that a bronzer came up with the idea of \u200b\u200btaking inspiration from the tritons of the fountain. Bronze was then preferred to lead and its patina suggests a use that was certainly shorter than at Versailles, but at least as intensive! The metal was thus enriched with delicate nuances, from bronze to deep green, giving this triton a unique cachet and a very baroque grace.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”107604″ caption=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”102103″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”185195″]The Bassin de la Pyramide fountain was dismantled again between September 1939 and June 1941, as part of the passive defense. Our 19th century triton was probably also protected by its first owners. Today, it is a unique opportunity to install this work of art imbued with great History, from the Ancien R\u00e9gime to the present day, in your home.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”356608″]<\/p>\n

Marielle Brie de Lagerac
\n<\/strong>Art historian for the art market and cultural media.
\nAuthor of the blog L\u2019Art de l’Objet<\/p>\n

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