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| Apollo On Ice, Palace of Versailles |
I must admit I was not prepared for the grandeur on display
at the Palace of Versailles
Once the home to generations of Kings and Queens of France,
the Palace of Versailles stands as a stark reminder of the many excesses of
King Louis XIV (14th) in particular, and that of his heirs and successors.
Excesses which became exposed for all to see with the onset of the French
Revolution in 1789.
It’s not just the 700 rooms, the 6,000+ paintings, 1,500
drawings, and more than 15,000 engravings. Nor is it the sight of 2,100
sculptures and around 5,200 pieces of furniture and objets d’art, which
overwhelms. No, it is all these and more. Including the 800 hectares of
woodlands, landscaped gardens, fountains, Grand Canals, and many nooks and
hidden corners, which surround the main Palace building. Then there are the
Grand Trianon, Marie-Antoinette’s estate, numerous copses and groves, fountains
and open-air salons, the King’s Garden, the Apollo Baths, the Ornamental Lake
of The Dragon, and other locations large and small.
I walked around part of the massive Palace grounds on a
freezing December day, with the snow crunching underfoot, a light mist clinging
to the ground, and my warm breath hanging in the air.
I took many photographs that day under a dark, grey sky, and
the image I’ve selected for this post captures that setting very well. In the
image we see the Sun god Apollo, mounted on his chariot, emerging from the
frozen waters of the Apollo Fountain (located in the Grand Canal ).
The horses themselves seem to be springing out of the icy water, following
close on the heels of the bugler leading them.
The work of Tuby, after a drawing by the French artist, Le
Brun, this monumental sculpture was designed and cast between 1668 and 1670,
then transported to Versailles
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