Boreas Abducting Orithyia

This bronze is a miniature version of one of four marble sculptures representing the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water) commissioned in 1674 for the gardens of the French royal palace at Versailles. This group symbolizes air, a subject taken from the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphosis. It depicts the god of the north wind, Boreas, abducting the Athenian princess Orithyia while battling another wind, probably the god Zephyr. Today the original marble version can be found at the Louvre Museum in Paris.