Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00012957Versailles, Fountain of Enceladus
About the 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 the gods. Enceladus, vanquished by his temerity and pride, clings to the stones with all the strength of his half-buried body.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil on verso: "VERSAILLES BASSIN DE/L'ENCELADUS 1166"
Exhibition history
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).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Eugène Atget (French, 1857–1927)
- Date
- 1922–1923
- Medium
- albumen print, gold toned
- Dimensions
- Image: 22.5 x 17.8 cm (8 7/8 x 7 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1985.117
More by Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00012957
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