LE NOTRE AND VERSAILLES 



113 



1687 the collection from Fontainebleau was added to the newly finished 

 building. The Orangery comprises a central gallery and two side galleries, 

 the former being 506 feet long by 40 feet wide. The building was fre- 

 quently used for en- 

 tertainments, and at 

 the present day is 

 sometimes employed 

 for the same pur- 

 pose. 



The parterre in 

 front of the Orangery 

 (illus. opposite) had 

 many fine pieces of 

 sculpture in marble 

 and bronze, and some 

 beautiful examples of 

 leaden vases still 

 adorn the surround- 

 ing terraces. Lespi- 

 gnola modelleda series 

 of fourteen baskets 

 of fruit and flowers, 

 and to Le Gros and 

 Le Comte were en- 

 trusted the colossal 

 stone groups that rest 

 on the pillars of the 

 double entrance to 

 the gardens. Inside 

 the parterre were 

 numerous decora- 

 tive sculptures in 

 marble and bronze, 

 but of these only four are left. Not far from the Orangery was the 

 Labyrinth, which has now disappeared. It was famous for its series of 

 thirty-nine leaden figures representing scenes from the Fables of Aesop, and 



FOUNTAIN IN THE ALLEE d'eAU, i688, BY MAZELINE. 

 For contemporary engraving v. p. 109. The basin has been replaced. 



