The Giant in the Grove

Wandering the gardens at Versaille, I found that my favorite area was the Grove of Enceladus, a clearing in the trees surrounded by arched trellises and smaller fountains carved to look organic and almost fluid.

The centerpiece of the space is the fountain that depicts Enceladus sinking into the ground. Made of lead and created by Gaspard Marsy in the 1670s, it looks oddly modern to date from that time period. Marsy achieved a lot of emotion and an impression of lifelike movement in the sculpting of Enceladus’s rage that made the fountain stand out from among all the others and all the numerous statues in the garden. Where the others pointed to prosperity or power, Enceladus was frozen in a movement of despair and defeat.

At first I wasn’t sure why a mythological figure that was much less commonly depicted  than many of the others in the garden had been made such a center piece at Versaille, but on reviewing the story of Enceladus, I realized that besides being a work of art the whole grove was a key chapter in the overall narrative the rest of the garden presents. Enceladus is not, as I first thought when I saw the fountain, clawing his way out of the earth, but rather being swallowed by it.

In Greek mythos, Enceladus was one of the giants who decided to begin a rebellion and overthrow Zeus, king of the gods. He was struck by one of Zeus’s lightning bolts so hard that he smashed into the earth and became forever trapped beneath an active volcano. The Enceladus fountain is a beautiful warning to any of the court of Versailles who thought to plot against the king: you will be crushed and buried in the earth.

The jet of water emanating from Enceladus’s mouth is supposed to be his last scream of desperation and his violent curses against the gods in his last moments before he was buried. I was so glad I was able to see the fountain with the water turned on. I think the effect of the fountain would be muted without the spray and movement the water lends, which gives the whole scene much more dynamism and tells the story shown so effectively. 

It would certainly be difficult to think any plot against the Sun King could succeed while standing in the Enceladus grove and staring at the giant, wrought four times larger than any human, screaming through his downfall.