The sculptor's studio

Francois G... (1854-1909)

Block destined to the carving of his Bust

 

In order to obtain a perfect and exclusive hearing of himself, Francois 0... decided on 11 December 1909 to live henceforth with his ears sealed by balls of wax. Unfortunately, unbearable sounds produced by the food he was eating were disturbing his new sonorous intimacy day after day. And it so happened that he reduced his meals too radically, whereby the irreparable occurred...

Louis de P... (1845-1912)

Frame work destined to the modelling of his Bust

 

On 6 May 1912, he was combing his hair as usual in front of the tiny mirror of his green room, Louis de P... noticed with fright some brown spots appearing on his forehead.
As day after day, the disease got worse and no one in his surrounding made the slightest hint as to his condition, he became convinced that he had been poisoned following general vindictiveness, and preferred to commit suicide before he became completely disfigured.
Then only did someone remove the mould which was creeping at the back of the tiny mirror in the green room.

Monument to the M... Indians

(late 19th century, Iowa, North America)

 

The M... Indians had always walked in perfect harmony with the world of strange shapes drawn by their "Umbria", the shadow their bodies cast on the ground.
But as in 1885 (when the colonists began to persecute them), they took refuge way up in the north, the local sun, being at so much lower an angle, gave them such a dreadfully lengthened "Umbria", terrified, they irremediably did away with the body that was the cause of it.

Here lies Hubert C... (1861-1910)

 

Hubert C... had always entertained the hope of being able to look at himself without any outside aid. Finally, on 8th March 1910, he placed his hands right across his face, exerting such pressure that for a fraction of a second the blood compressed in his palms held the picture of his most prominent features. But when he tried using the same method to view his neck, something irreparable happened.

Duc Robert de L… (France, XIVè siècle)

Charpente destinée au modelage de son buste

 

Lorsque l’on proposa au jeune Duc Robert de L… de frapper une monnaie à son effigie, celui-ci exigea d’avoir une expression différente sur chacune d’entre elles.
Le maître d’oeuvre lui démontra l’impossibilité matérielle d’une telle entreprise, mais il accepta cependant d’incruster à la place des yeux un acier si sensible à l’humidité de la peau — spécifique à chaque être — qu’il donnerait au duc une intensité de regard particulière suivant chacun de ses sujets.
Malheureusement, au fil du temps, ceux-ci considérèrent leur suzerain si versatile qu’ils décidèrent de le destituer.

Victor de F... (1818-1906)

Bloc destined to the carving of his bust.

 

On August fourteenth 1906, Victor de F... decided that the time had come for him to keep an eye permanently directed towards the top of his head. He therefore installed a clever set of mirrors starting from the frame of his glasses, which carried his glance to the zone in questions. However, during his appetizing walk the next day, when the sun had reached its peak, the summit of his head got burnt.

Here lies Genevieve M... (1885-1907)

 

On the morning of 28th December 1907, standing in her freezing bedroom, Genevieve M... tried to put on some make up. With her hair carefully tied back, she managed to draw round the contours of her half-closed eyes, even sketching in the broadened boundary of her cheeks. But when her brush came to her parted lips, her face dis appeared in the dense mist deposited on the mirror by the burning hot breath from her bared, heaving bosom. At this point she decided to hold her breath in order to complete her interminable make up session.

Monument to the W... women (southern Africa - 19th century)

 

In the days of the W..., it was the custom of jealous husbands to inlay their wives' bodies prettily with tiny fragments of a volcanic stone capable of heating intensely – to the point of causing severe burns – under the impulse of a suddenly faster heartbeat caused by too much emotion.
Whilst, for years, the W... women managed to keep to the rainy season for abandoning themselves to their burning passions, not one of them survived the interminable drought of 1899.

Monument to Veronica D... (1882-1913)

 

When the designers of the new British liner asked that marvellous actress Veronica D... to be "Britannia" for their figurehead, she refused to allow a merereplica of herself, in wood to boot, to steal from her the best part in her career, and immediately persuaded them to fasten her, in person, onto the ship's bow.
Unfortunately, on 19th November 1913, on its mai den voyage, the treacherous ice sent the "Britannia" to the seabed. When rescuers arrived on the scene, all that could still be seen of the tragedy was the imprint of Véronique's body on the tip of an iceberg drifting towards the southern seas.

Here lies Hubert D... (1892-1963)

 

At the end of his life, the biologist Hubert D... felt he was continuously under the gaze of supposed spies. At night, to get a better idea of what he took to be the sound of footsteps prowling around his home, he stuck his ear to the bottom of a glass which he placed against the walls of his room. However, on 8th December 1963, he detected beating noises outside that were so unusually loud that he became afraid; and as the rate of the intruder's steps seemed to speed up with his increasing panic, his heart began to race. Sadly, it was too late before he realized that he was holding the glass the wrong way round.