Dreux, Chapelle Saint- Louis, Mausoleum of Louis-Philippe and north of Chartres, completed in 1816, containing the Orleans family tombs and funerary monuments by several distinguished French sculptors (e.g. Barre, Lenoir, Pradier and Mercié.) Rothéneuf, Carved Rocks , on the site (north west coast of France on the Normandy coast near Saint Malo) are over 300 carved figures made by the hermit priest Adolphe-Julien Foure (1839-1910) see also this screen. Today erosion is returning the structures to their original states. It is generous to see them as Outsider Art, perhaps sculptural doodling would be more accurate. Older photographic images show the bite and detail once achieved before the forces of Nature intervened. Soissons, Monument to the Dead monument by Albert Bartholomé with reliefs by Raoul Lamourdedieu, 1926. The plinth is surmounted by a group of four stone figures carrying a flame. The relief shows 'The Vase of Soissons' being smashed by a soldier iunder the gaze of Clovis and several hard nuts. Kennington's finest memorial sculpture, Monument to the Missing is nearby, and his finest work. |
Cherbourg, Arsenal maritime, a cypress tree made out of bayonets (see also) , now a heritage centre dedicated to the sea, but once an active industrial manufacturing site. Lourdes, statue of the Virgin. Graville, La Vierge Noire. Long held to have been cast from enemy cannons in the Franco-Prussian War for the Priory grounds , this version was damaged in 1944 and a copper replacement instanned. The Plougastel Calvary in Finisterre, One of the most ambitious and complex of the Breton Calvary pieces. Ile de Brehat, The Cross of Crech-Guen, on the caost overlooking the rocky islands just outside the harbour of Paimpol. With true French sentim,ent it was called The Widows' Cross, given the Fishermen's Wives who scanned the briney for their returning husbands. The carving is dated 1721 and admirably crude. |