Versailles, Fountain of Enceladus
Eugène Atget (French, 1857–1927)
1922–1923
Medium
albumen print, gold toned
Dimensions
image: 22.5 × 17.8 cm · matted: 45.7 × 35.6 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1985.117
Tags
male
About this artwork
Taken in his later campaign of photographing at Versailles during the 1920s, Atget magically--through his ingenuous composition and use of light and shade--captured the pathos and expressive vigor of Gaspard Marsy’s 1675-77 sculpture from a sketch provided by the painter Charles Le Brun. This baroque, gilded metalwork depicts Enceladus, the mightiest of the giants in Roman mythology. Jupiter cast down and crushed the giant under a mound of rock after he dared to attack Mount Olympus to dethrone ...