Many of the groups and marble figures
that beautified the walks and bowers of
Versailles were conceived by the gifted
Lebrun. Among his designs were the Four
Seasons, the Four Quarters of the Globe,
the Four Kinds of Poetry (Heroic, Satiric,
Lyric and Pastoral), the Four Periods of
the Day (Morning, Noon, Twilight,
Night), the Four Elements (Earth, Air,
Fire, Water), the Four Temperaments
(Phlegmatic, Melancholy, Coleric and
Sanguine). Mythological figures, vases
ornamented with bas-reliefs of Louis XIV and
great men of his reign, fountain groups
representing the chief rivers of France,
water nymphs, sportive babies, beasts in
combat--sculpture massive, graceful,
grotesque--all added their individual lure to
the dells, the walks and the terraces of the
magic palace.
Tile-workers from Flanders, marble-cutters
from the Pyrenees, Italy and Greece,
masons, sculptors, castmen, metal-workers,
bronze colorists--innumerable artisans
trained to meet the exacting tastes of that
Silver Age of Art--lent their skill to the
construction of fountains whose ingenuity and
variety have set a standard for all time for
the makers of kingly estates. A hundred
sculptors of highest reputation were engaged
to model groups, statues, busts and low
reliefs for the Versailles park, under the
supervision of Lebrun and Mignard.
Ladies of the Court sometimes claimed
the ear of the compliant Andre Le Notre
to suggest fancies that he graciously evolved
with greenery and marbles, with tinkling
streams and bright-winged birds.
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