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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
As the Marly Machine, as well as aqueducts, reservoirs and a network of canals which was unique in Europe at the time. Likewise, trees, mature plants and different species (as rare as they were expensive) demonstrated the monarch’s power, while the sculptures which gradually filled the Petit Parc were designed to celebrate his glory.From Eros to ApolloAlthough the exact process remains unknown today, the iconography was gradually designed by the customer (the King), the Administrator (Colbert), Architect (Louis Le Vau then Jules Hardouin-Mansart), Painter, Gardener, Sculptors and Fountain Engineers (the Francine family). The very first sculpture commissions seem to have celebrated love and gallantry. From the 1660s onwards the gardens moreover played host to grand celebrations (the Delights of the Enchanted Island in 1664, the Great Royal Entertainment in 1668) which first and foremost manifested the pomp and extravagance which the king was able to display. The first group of sculptures, made in stone in 1664 around the Grand Rondeau Fountain (now lost), contained fauns, dancers and nymphs in a burlesque, amorous mood.The following years saw the start of major embellishment work, and very soon this trend characteristic of the early years of the King’s reign gave way to the Apollonian theme so dear to Louis XIV. Apollo, the sun god who bestowed his blessings across the land and ensured order in the world, would thus be represented at various points in his life in all his vengeful and beneficent power. The god is shown as controller of the cosmos,
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