Louis Ratisbonne, Marble bust of a writer in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France

This marble sculpture of Louis Ratisbonne stands in the Jardin du Luxembourg and was created by sculptor Émile Soldi-Colbert. The work displays careful craftsmanship and sits among many other artworks throughout the garden.

The statue was created in 1911, when France was honoring major cultural figures through public artworks. This reflected a broader movement to immortalize such figures in urban spaces.

Louis Ratisbonne was a poet, librettist and long-time librarian of the Bibliothèque Mazarine; the marble bust set on a pedestal in the Jardin du Luxembourg keeps his name before the public. Visitors pass it among the garden's statues of writers and artists, a reminder of the 19th-century men of letters honoured in Paris parks.

The statue is located in the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is freely accessible to visitors throughout the day. The grounds are flat and easy to navigate, making it simple to explore the collection at your own pace.

The marble bust carries a Latin inscription naming Louis Ratisbonne as the author of "La Comédie enfantine", the verse collection that earned him a seat at the Académie française in 1900. He died in 1900, eleven years before the monument was unveiled.