His talent attracted the attention of the Chancellor of Louis XIV, Pierre Séguier, a serious patron of the arts, who arranged for him to work in the studio of François Anguier, and later, from 1648 to 1650 to live and apprentice in Rome.

His principal contribution was the group of statuary representing Apollo served by the Nymphs, (1666-1675), symbolizing the Sun King himself, placed in a grotto close to the Palace.

[3] He created another fountain for Versailles, the Basin of Saturn or Winter (1672-1677), made of gilded lead, composed in a more baroque style, crowded with figures.

The sense of movement and twisted figures give it a Baroque appearance, but this is balanced by the classical clarity and symmetry of the composition.

[4] It was nearly destroyed by a mob during the French Revolution, but was protected by the archeologist Alexandre Lenoir, who received a bayonet wound in its defense.

This statue was melted down during the French Revolution and is now known only by a small bronze model made by Girardon himself, in the Louvre, He died in Paris in 1715.