Lysias, Replica sculpture in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, France

Lysias is a white marble-powder resin replica of a term statue in the Versailles gardens, standing against a dense green hedge. Its lower body is a plain tapered pillar on a stepped square base, while the torso is wrapped in heavy folded cloth and holds a round object at the left side.

The original marble term was made by Jean Dedieu between 1685 and 1695 and was placed in the North Parterre in August 1695. The head was copied from an antique plaster in Paris, and the work was moved, stored for protection during the Second World War, and finally brought indoors in 2018.

Today visitors see a modern cast that replaces an older marble figure once displayed in the same spot, so the form stays familiar but the surface feels newer than many nearby garden statues. The cord around the hair, the heavy drapery, and the paper roll in the left hand all recall ancient Greek orators, which makes this corner of the garden read like a small open-air portrait gallery.

The statue stands at the Rond-Point des Philosophes, just east of the entrance to the Water Theatre grove in the North Parterre. It is best approached by following the main garden paths that loop around this section, and the flat, open setting makes it easy to view from several angles.

The name has shifted over time in old garden inventories: some records call the figure Lycon rather than Lysias, which suggests even the palace staff once hesitated over the identity. This replica also proves that a visitor can stand exactly where the original stood for more than two centuries, even though the older marble now rests in the Small Stables.