The ''grande commande'' was a commission ordered by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

for statues intended to decorate the ''parterre d’eau'' of the

gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

of the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, as initially conceived in 1672. The commission, which included 24 statues and four groups,All but the "Abduction of Coronis by Neptune" were completed. was ordered in 1674. Designed by

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

from Cesare Ripa’s ''Iconologia'', the statues were executed by the foremost sculptors of the day (Blunt, 1980; Friedman, 1988, 1993; Nolhac, 1913; Thompson, 2006; Verlet, 1985). Owing to concerns of the effects of the vertical lines of the statues in relations to the garden façade of the château, the statues of the ''grande commande'' were transferred to other locations in the gardens in 1684 (Berger, 1985; Blunt, 1980; Friedman, 1988, 1993; Marie, 1968; Nolhac, 1901, 1913; Thompson, 2006; Verlet, 1985; Weber, 1993). File:Charles Le Brun-Grande Commande-Les Quatre parties du jour.jpg, Charles Le Brun, ''The Four Parts of the Day'' File:Charles Le Brun-Grande Commande-Les Quatre saisons.jpg, Le Brun, ''The Four Seasons'' File:Charles Le Brun-Grande Commande-Les Quatre elements.jpg, Le Brun, ''The Four Elements'' File:Charles Le Brun-Grande Commande-Les Quatre temperaments.jpg, Le Brun, The Four Humors of Man'' File:Charles Le Brun-Grande Commande-Les Quatre poemes.jpg, Le Brun, The Four Forms of Poetry'' The 24 statues were personifications of the classic quaternities: * The Four Humors of Man ::* Melancholic ::* Phlegmatic ::* Choleric ::* Sanguine * The Four Parts of the Day ::* Dawn ::* Noon ::* Evening ::* Night * The Four Parts of the World ::* Europe ::* Africa ::* Asia ::* America * The Four Forms of Poetry ::* Lyric ::* Pastoral ::* Satirical ::* Epic * The Four Seasons ::* Spring ::* Summer ::* Autumn ::* Winter * The Four Elements ::* Fire ::* Air ::* Earth ::* Water The four groupings represented the four classic Abductions: * The Four Abductions: ::*

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

::*

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

::* Orethyia by Boreas ::* Coronis by

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

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Sources

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References

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