Toulouse. Jean de La Fontaine in the Jardin des Plantes
The sculpture has found its place on the island on the hill in the Jardin des Plantes. Where geese, hens, swans and other ducks frolic freely near the river and the dovecote… Representing the fabulist Jean de La Fontaine, this statue designed by the Toulouse sculptor Sébastien Langlöys, could not find a more ideal location. The site was indeed chosen by the chief architect of the Historic Monuments just like the base, the patina. It is an attractive work because the public has been taking photos and selfies for two days and where the birds of the garden seem to have an appointment, perhaps intrigued by the 80 representations of their congeners lining the body of the poet.
This work by the artist had started last year for the 400th anniversary of the birth of Jean de La Fontaine, in 1721. Sébastien Langlöys is already the author of several creations distributed in Toulouse: Claude Nougaro, Frédéric Mistral, Carlos Gardel, Goscinny …
“Everyone knows Jean de La Fontaine, assures the sculptor. His animals, staged in his fables, made him famous. So I imagined a man of 1.85 m, standing, holding at the end of his fingers the inescapable bird of his fablier: the raven. They look at each other, gauge each other. This scene arouses the curiosity of the passer-by, encourages him to come closer to find out more.
And this is where we distinguish the 80 other animals, stars of the fables, judiciously slipped into the body of the storyteller”. On the last Sunday of each month, an appointment will be given, for school children, (between 11 a.m. and 12 noon), in front of the statue for a small conference in the presence of a historian, an actor around this fable.