Bassin de Cérès, ou de l'Été

About

The Ceres or Summer Basin is a basin of the gardens of Versailles, belonging to all the basins of the Seasons with the basin of Bacchus (fall), the basin of Saturn (winter) and the basin of Flora (spring). The Four Seasons are represented several times in sculpture in Versailles. The Grand Commission includes a collection of sculptures commissioned by Louis XIV in 1674, containing statues of the Seasons.

In 1672, the construction of the four basins of the Seasons was undertaken: Spring, represented by Flora, Summer, as Ceres, Autumn, represented by Bacchus, Winter, personified by Saturn. Each basin has in its centre a round lead platform on which appears a statue, allegory of a season, originally surrounded by children and its usual attributes. The children's groups were moved to the festive hall.

The central characters are gilded and the central islet was previously surrounded by a stone cord recalling the attributes of each season, but these elements, subsequently deemed superfluous, were removed between 1684 and 1686.