Héloïse HOUDELOT & Lise FAYOLLE write...
"La Marseillaise,"
commissioned for the State by Mr Chaumié, the Minister of Fine Arts, for the city
of Riom, was created by Ernest Dagonnet (1856-1926). It was inaugurated on the
15th August 1904 by a minister called Mr Vallé in Napoléon Square (called
Virlogeux Square after the Second World War, in honour of Pierre Virlogeux, a
Résistance fighter).
In 1789, the French
people railed against the monarchy; the sculptor wanted to pay tribute to those
who died during this revolution, that is why he picked that subject to carry
out his work for Etienne Clémentel, the town mayor. He has written the names of
several major battles on the plinth (Valmy, Jemmapes, Hondschoote, Wattignies,
Fleurus). He wanted to make the citizens at the start of the 20th
century remember the patriotic sacrifice of the people in the 18th
century, when the Republic was first set up: "Every citizen should be a
soldier, every soldier a citizen" is written on the plinth (this was said
in the national assembly in 1789).
This work of
art, costing 2000 Francs, is in bronze and the base is made of black Volvic stone.
It shows a young woman walking, holding up a laurel branch and carrying a drum.
There is a quote by the historian Michelet written on the base: “Ils furent les
soldats de la loi et moururent avec la République” meaning “They were the soldiers
of the law and died with the Republic”. It is of course a tribute to the
revolutionaries.
Most of the people
we interviewed know this statue, either because they pass through the park
where it is located or because they have heard of it. But nobody knew much about
it because they are not that interested in art and do not pay particular attention
to statues and their meaning. However, we met a person who said that it was, from
his point of view, the most beautiful in Riom.
The statue speaks…
Many are
those who walk past me every day, but rare are the ones who know my story,
though I am an important symbol of what they believe in and what their
ancestors fought for: freedom from tyranny!
I was made in
1904, of bronze, by Ernest Dagonet, a sculptor who deserves to be better known.
Through me,
the artist and the State who paid for the sculpture, wanted to pay tribute to
the people died during the French Revolution of 1789.
They call me
the “Marseillaise.”
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