The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Versailles, Fountain of Triumphant France

Versailles, Fountain of Triumphant France

1904
(French, 1857–1927)
Image: 22 x 18.2 cm (8 11/16 x 7 3/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

From 1901 until his death in 1927, Atget devoted much of his time to documenting châteaus and parks in and around Paris. Initially and most frequently, he was attracted to the gardens of Versailles, first working there until 1906. This intriguing detail of the Fountain of Triumphant France isolates two of its three allegorical figures: the seated representation of the French Empire behind Jean-Baptiste Tubi’s sculpture denoting Spain. The fountain was commissioned by Louis XIV to celebrate the French victory over Spain and Holland. The sharply focused composition filled with decorative and sculptural details is typical of Atget’s early photographs, which he understood to be "documents for artists"—raw material for painters, sculptors, stage designers, and craftsmen.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 88
  • Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; February 26 - June 16, 2005 . "Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art".
    CMA, February 12 - April 20, 1986: "Year in Review 1985," CMA Bulletin, 73 (Feb. 1986), p. 64, no. 57.
  • {{cite web|title=Versailles, Fountain of Triumphant France|url=false|author=Eugène Atget|year=1904|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.114