Monument to Leconte de Lisle, Marble statue in Jardin du Luxembourg, France
The Monument to Leconte de Lisle is a marble sculpture dedicated to a celebrated French poet and stands within the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. The work displays the figure carved in white marble mounted on a cylindrical base engraved with text.
The sculpture was created in 1898 by an accomplished artist who had already achieved recognition in his field. The work came about as a tribute to a poet whose literary contributions defined his era.
Leconte de Lisle, born on Réunion in 1818, led the Parnassian school, which prized formal precision and impassive detachment. His 1898 monument faces the Luxembourg Gardens, where he served as a librarian at the Senate from 1873; a visitor can spot the poet's name carved on the pedestal.
The monument stands in the Luxembourg Gardens, near the terrace of the Observatoire and the garden's southern edge, a short walk from the Port-Royal RER station and the Luxembourg Sénat stop. The marble figure faces the paths of the formal garden, so it is passed on foot rather than viewed from a road.
Denys Puech's marble group shows the poet seated, with a female figure standing behind him, an allegory of his poetic inspiration. The monument was inaugurated in 1898 in the Luxembourg Gardens, where Leconte de Lisle had served as a librarian at the Senate from 1873 until his death in 1894.
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