Near the Sorbonne, in the square of Samuel Paty (Place Painlevé) on the Rue des Écoles, there is a bronze statue commemorating Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), a prominent French philosopher of the Renaissance. Since its inauguration in 1934, the statue designed by French sculptor Paul Landowski, originally made in marble and later replaced by a bronze cast, has attracted attention and encouraged viewers to interact - touch and close contact, magically thinking.

From concept to inauguration

In 1921, the Paris city council received a proposal to erect a statue of Michel de Montaigne in Paris. The concept was conceived by Antoine-Arthur Armaignaud, a physician and passionate about the philosopher's work, of the Association of Friends of Montaigne, and Bouchard. For the next decade, the project was stuck in limbo due to the protracted process of obtaining planning permission. In 1931, Armaignaud made a substantial donation of 100,000 francs to the city for the statue's execution fee to support the realisation of the monument. In the same year, he offered the sculptor Paul Landowski a contract to realise the monument in marble.

Work on the monument began at the end of 1931. In 1932, Landowski presented a model of Montaigne's statue (now in the collection of the Museum of the 1930s at the Espace Landowski in Boulogne-Billancourt) to the committee erecting the monument, composed of Armaignaud and members of the Association of Friends of Montaigne. For this commission, Landowski allowed himself considerable artistic freedom, depicting Montaigne in an uninhibited pose, with his arms crossed, sitting on a stool with his leg folded over and smiling ironically. The sketchy performance elicited mixed reactions from the committee representatives. They criticised it as if it was already a final realisation.

The design and the artist's proposed location for the monument on the Place Painlevé, between the Sorbonne and the Musée de Cluny, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, was accepted by the committee in the summer of 1932. At the time, Landowski was faced with the challenge of forging a full-size statue of Montaigne in marble within a very tight deadline, which Armaingaud insisted on because of the upcoming round four-hundredth anniversary of the philosopher's birth and his advanced age, 91, fearing that he might not live to see the statue completed.

On 27 March 1933, 12 years after the original request, the Prefect of the Department of the Seine issued an official decree authorising the erection of the monument, commemorating the author of the 'Essais' ('Trials'), a work that played such a significant role in the history of ideas. In 1933, on the occasion of the four-hundredth anniversary of Montaigne's birth, a plaster version of the monument (now in the Lycée Montaigne in Paris) was situated in the square. However, the inauguration of the marble realisation was put on hold for a further 10 months due to the need to pay the artist's fee during the finishing work, amounting to 13,000 francs. Finally, after overcoming the difficulties, the ceremonial unveiling of the Michel de Montaigne statue took place on 15 April 1934.

The magic touch

In May 1934, Paul Landowski noted a phenomenon in his diary with amusement. During a brief stay in Paris, where he was on a break from his duties as director of the Villa Medici in Rome, he noticed that students were gathering around the statue of Michel de Montaigne, engaged in fierce discussions about philosophy and knowledge.

What's more, the statue was so appealing to the public that it soon began to be ascribed magical powers: a ritual of touching, kissing Montaigne's right foot and saluting the philosopher's image for good luck before exams was born among Sorbonne students. This practice was so popular that the marble statue had to undergo regular restoration. In order to avoid, among other things, the amputation of the foot, the statue was moved to a warehouse in Ivry in 1986. A bronze cast was made of it, and it stood again at Place Painlevé in 1989. The haptic charm of Landowski's copy of the sculpture provokes students to touch it to this day.

Decapitation

Attitudes towards Landowski's work have not always been positive. Student protests, regularly held in the Latin Quarter, expressed themselves several times in acts of vandalism directed against the statue. In 1959, the statue was severely damaged by unknown perpetrators, to the extent that the figure's head had to be removed. Paul Landowski personally carried out this operation, replacing the original head with a faithful replica.

Description of the object

A 2-metre-tall statue of Michel de Montaigne with an ironic smile, in a seated position with his leg folded over his leg and his arms crossed, situated on a cuboid plinth. The original figure, shown in costume with a distinctive orifice, was made, like the pedestal on which it stands, of marble. Since the late 1980s, a bronze copy has taken its place.

Inscriptions

From the front on the pedestal below the inscription " MONTAIGNE": " PARIS A MON COEUR DÈS MON ENFANCE. JE NE SUIS FRANÇAIS QUE PAR CETTE GRANDE CITÉ. GRANDE SURTOUT ET INCOMPARABLE EN VARIÉTÉ. LA GLOIRE DE LA FRANCE EST L'UN DES PLUS NOBLES ORNEMENTS DU MONDE" (Paris has been in my heart since my youth. I am French only thanks to this city. Great above all others and incomparable in its diversity. The glory of France is one of the most important ornaments of the world).

On the left side of the pedestal, an inscription introducing the history of the inauguration of the monument: " LE 24 AVRIL 1933 LE QUATRIEME CENTENAIRE DE LA / NAISSANCE DE MONTAIGNE A ETE CELEBRE EN / SORBONNE DEVANT SA STATUE EN PRESENCE DE / M. DE FONTENAY PRESIDENT DU CONSEIL MUNICIPAL / M. CHARLETY MEMBRE DE L'INSTITUT RECTEUR DE / L'UNIVERSITE DE PARIS M. BRANDON CONSEILLER / MUNICIPAL DE L'ARRONDISSEMENT, DEPUTE DE PARIS / LES DISCOURS ONT ETE PRONONCES PAR LE DR ARMAINGAUD, DONNATEUR DE LA STATUE, MM ; LOUIS BARTHOU DE L'ACADEMIE FRANCAISE, PRESIDENT DE LA / SOCIETE DES AMIS DE MONTAIGNE GASTON PAGEOT / PRESIDENT DE LA SOCIETE DES GENS DE LETTRES" (24 April 1933. on the four-hundredth anniversary / of Montaigne's birth was celebrated at / the Sorbonne in front of his monument in the presence of / Sz. P. de Fontenay president of the city council / Sz. P. Charlety member of the institute, rector / of the University of Paris / Sz. P. Brandon Conseiller / district councillor, deputy of Paris / speeches were made by Dr Armaingaud, funadtor of the statue of Michel de Montaigne / Louis Barthou of the French Academy, president / of the Association of Friends of Montaigne Gaston Pageot / president of the Association of Writers).

Right: " LE 30 AVRIL 1934 LA STATUE DE MONTAIGNE / DON DU DR ARMAINGAUD COMMANDEUR DE / LA LEGION D'HONNEUR FONDATEUR DU PREVENTORIUM / D'ARCACHON, COMMENTATEUR DES ŒUVRES DE MONTAIGNE / A ETE RECUE AU NOM DU CONSEIL MUNICIPAL PAR / ARMAINGAUD ET M. LOUIS BARTHOU DE L'ACADEMIE FRANCAISE MINISTRE DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES / SOCIETE DES AMIS DE MONTAIGNE" (30 April 1934. Montaigne's monument / gift of Dr Armaignaud Commander of the Legion of Honour founder of the Preventorium / in Arcachon, commentator on Montaigne's works / was received on behalf of the town council by / Armaignaud and the Honourable Louis Barthou of the French Academy Minister of Foreign Affairs / Association of Friends of Montaigne).

The object is signed, described and dated on the seat: " PAUL LANDOWSKI BOULOGNE SUR MER 1933".