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Latona Fountain: A white marble statue sculpted by Gaspard Marsy for a fountain in the park of the Palace of Versailles. Versailles was the great palace constructed by King Louis the Fourteenth in the late seventeenth century as a way of establishing himself as Europe's most illustrious and powerful monarch.
Classical mythology provided the theme for the Latona fountain. Considered to be either the first wife of Jupiter before his marriage to Juno, or his mistress, Latona was the mother of Jupiter's most famous children, Apollo and Diana. Driven from Mount Olympus by the jealous Juno and pursued by a serpent from country to country, Latona finally came to Lycia in Asia Minor, where she paused to quench her thirst at a clear pool. Hostile, jeering peasants waded into the pool to muddy its waters and the exhausted Latona implored Jupiter to take pity on her and his children. This is the dramatic moment Marsy depicts in sculpture. Hearing Latona's cries, Jupiter changed the Lycian peasants into frogs, thereby assuring they would never leave the pool.