Versailles. Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe. Groupe par Tuby. ("France Triumphant," by Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Versailles)

1904

Medium

Albumen silver print

Dimensions

21.8 × 17.6 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-378993

> The gardens of the royal château at Versailles are well supplied with sculptures, among them this monumental group depicting France triumphing over both Austria and Spain. The central, somewhat lifelessly composed, helmeted figure, seated in a ceremonial chariot, represents France. Her shield bears three fleurs-de-lis and the sun of Louis XIV, whose military successes are the subject of this celebration. The foreground male figure, seated on an eagle, symbolizes a defeated Austria and the Holy Roman Empire it then headed, as is indicated by the classical armor and fallen helmet. (When the fountain that this sculptural group surmounted was in operation, water spouted from the beak of the crushed eagle.) The ensemble, originally gilded and set in an elaborate architecture of shaped shrubbery, was the joint work of Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720) and Jean-Baptiste Tuby (1635-1700). Completed in 1683, the fountain was restored in 1883 and perhaps again later. > > This image of the work is one of at least five that Eugène Atget created. The first, presumably, was an overall view made with the camera set directly facing the central sculpture (see [90.XM.64.26](https://www.getty.edu/art/…