What’s wrong with Apollo in the “Fontaine du Soleil” by the sculptor Alfred Auguste Janniot (1889-1969)? In legend, the ancient Greek deity Apollo, the son of Zeus, master of Olympus, rode a chariot pulled by fiery horses across the sky every day to bring light to the world. Venerated in various guises and incarnations throughout classical antiquity, radiant Apollo came to represent not only the sun, but also other illuminating fields of music, logic and reason. He often has the beautiful Diana on his arm. So, what’s the problem? In Nice, our Apollo isn’t being pulled by a chariot but the horses are riding him! Right on his head! This leaves out the scandal about the naked man in and the prudence of the Niçois… Such a scandal it was that the monument was banished in the 1970s and only reinstated in 2011. (Apollo is surrounded by Venus, Mercury, Mars, Earth, and Saturne). If you look at Venus, look carefully at how and where her left hand is pointing…
