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

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). Next he made two studies of each of the side figures: this one of Austria and a second, closer one, and then, in parallel fashion, two of Spain. The majestic effect that the sculptural group was intended to have is undercut in this photograph by the bare branches of the trees and the fallen leaves that litter the steps and molder in the basin. Resplendent grandeur gives way to autumnal sadness. The meaning of the monument, which Atget no doubt understood, fades in the approaching haze of winter.

See other Atget images of the Bosquet de l’arc de triomphe (90.XM.64.49 and 90.XM.64.65) and of Versailles (90.XM.64.26, 90.XM.64.28, 90.XM.64.36, 90.XM.64.38, 90.XM.64.42, 90.XM.64.62, 90.XM.64.64, and 90.XM.124.4).

Adapted from in Eugène Atget, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum by Gordon Baldwin (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000), 40. ©2000, J. Paul Getty Trust.