Fountain of Apollo

Title: Fountain of Apollo

Artist: Jean-Baptiste Tuby

Location: Gardens of Versailles, France

Date: 1668-1671

Size: unknown

Medium: Originally gilded

Other Sources:

http://www.men-myths-minds.com/Apollo-greek-god.html

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/france/versailles/exterior/apollo.html

Photo: Lisa Lyon

Significance of the work:

This impressive fountain is major feature of the extravagant gardens of Versailles. The fountain transitions the gardens closer to the palace to the Grand Canal, which stretches more than two kilometers in length. The fountain is another example of Louis the XIV’s opinion of himself as the “sun king”. Apollo, god of the sun, is depicted as driving his chariots into the sky. One of Apollo’s responsibilities was to pull the sun across the sky, “his light brightening the lives of all it touched”. Louis the XIV likely wished for other to him in the same way, that his light was brightening the lives of all he ruled.