Parnasse français
by GARNIER, Louis, Bronze, height over 2 m
Garnier’s best-known work is the remarkable and strikingly original Parnasse fran�ais. It is an elaborate bronze group, over 2 m high, commissioned by Evrard Titon du Tillet and celebrating artists, musicians and writers of the reign of Louis XIV. The King, in the guise of Apollo and seated on top of Mt Parnassus, is surrounded by the three Graces, personified by the poets Antoinette Deshouli�res, Henriette de La Suze and Madeleine de Scud�ry. Below are statuettes of Corneille, Racine, Moli�re, Lully, La Fontaine etc. Other notable figures are represented by portrait medallions. Titon later commissioned Augustin Pajou to add Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Prosper Cr�billon and Voltaire.