Podalire, Marble sculpture in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, France

Podalire is a white marble term statue set on a tall rectangular pedestal in the newly reconstructed Bosquet du Dauphin, one of the garden groves flanking the Allée Royale. The figure holds a vessel at its side with carved water forms cascading over the pedestal top, and a dark wooden lattice fence with green foliage stands behind it.

The sculpture belongs to a group of terms installed in the bosquets of the Girandole and the Dauphin between the late 1680s and 1692, after being moved from the Parterre de Latone. Several of these terms, including this one, came from the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the bosquets themselves were later replaced by tree plantings in the 1770s before being reconstructed after 2000.

The term statue is placed at an entrance of the Bosquet du Dauphin, where it forms part of a decorative scheme that can still be understood today as an arrangement of named figures around a garden room. Visitors can notice how sculpture and clipped greenery work together to create the effect of an outdoor gallery, with each figure marking a threshold or corner.

You can view this statue while walking along the broad gravel path of the Allée Royale, where the two matching groves open on either side. Benches sit near the statue, and the ground is flat and open, making it easy to stop and look without changing your route.

This figure has been identified under different names over time, sometimes called Bacchus and sometimes confused with Pomone in old garden plans. That shifting identity is a small reminder of how easily the garden sculptures were reinterpreted as they moved from one shady compartment to another.