Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea
by OTTIN, Auguste, Bronze, height 280 cm, marble, height 115 cm
The picture shows the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.
In 1866 Ottin was commissioned to provide a sculptural centrepiece for the Fontaine M�dicis in the Jardin du Luxembourg, one of the few survivals of Salomon de Brosse’s gardens for Marie de Medici. The result was his best-known work, Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea, where the bronze giant crouches above the rocky grotto in which Galatea lies in the arms of Acis, who leans on his elbow in the manner of a river god — which he is just about to become. His Pan and Diana in marble accompany the group.