File:Nicolas de Poilly the Younger--Le Parnasse français--Chateau de Versailles.jpg

English: Nicolas de Poilly the Younger, Le Parnasse français, 1723, Chateau de Versailles, inventory number MV 6042[1]; oil on canvas; 149.2 x 113.2 x 3 cm. Representation of a monument to the glory of the poets and musicians of 1718. French man of letters and chronicler, Titon du Tillet conceived at the beginning of the 18th century the project of creating a grandiose monument to the glory of the French poets and musicians of the century of Louis XIV, which he called 'the French Parnassus'. He entrusted the sculptor Louis Garnier, a pupil of François Girardon, with the task of creating a bronze model which was executed between 1718 and 1721. Pyramidal in shape, the structure of the work decorated with laurels, myrtles and palm trees is built on a rock evoking Mount Parnassus. At the top is Louis XIV as Apollo holding a lyre, surmounted by Pegasus rushing in a celestial gallop. The three Graces, in the guise of Mesdames Deshoulières, La Suze and Scudéry, stand immediately below. Lower down, Corneille occupies a prominent place, surrounded by Molière, Racine, Racan, Lully bearing the medallion of Quinault, Segrais, La Fontaine, Boileau and Chapelle. But the project was quickly abandoned due to its estimated cost of nearly two million pounds. Titon du Tillet then decided to publish the representation of his model in the form of a print. The plaque, engraved from the drawing of Nicholas de Poilly the Younger, was presented to the king in 1723. A painting of the same image at Versailles is attributed to Nicholas de Poilly the Younger.[2]