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Les Colombières

The Butterfly Child. Les Colombières, Ferdinand Bac, Menton 1924.

The Garden of the Obelisk. Les Colombières, Ferdinand Bac, Menton 1924.

Two snakey illustrations by Nick Allen and Ivan Theimer of the text under the bas-relief: CAVE NE CADAS, ANGUIS IN HERBA, i.e. “mind you don’t fall, there are snakes in the grass”. Les Colombières, Ferdinand Bac, Menton 1924. Photo Massimo Listri.

Head of Medusa by Nick Allen and Ivan Theimer. Les Colombières, Ferdinand Bac, Menton 1924. Photo Massimo Listri.

Ferdinand Bac often uses plaster reproductions supplied by the workshop of the Louvre for his statues. Here the nymphs from the Fountain of the Innocents in Paris by Jean Goujon, and the Charioteer of Delphi from the Louvre. Les Colombières, Ferdinand Bac, Menton 1924. Photo Massimo Listri.

Sculptures

Ferdinand Bac used copies of classical sculptures from the collection of the Louvre in Paris (Les plâtres du Louvre) to decorate his garden and most of these have been lost to weather or damage or theft over time. Two of these, the charioteer of Delphi and the Nympheas of Jean Goujon, have been restored to show how they were.

However, the restoration preferred to commission new sculptures where possible and most new sculptures are by the Czech sculptor Yvan Theimer, who works in Paris and Pietrasanta. They notably represent a boy with a butterfly, an Egyptian cat, acrobats balancing on a viper’s nest, Orpheus and his lyre, Ulysses escaping from the Cyclops, mirroring Bac’s classical themes. Also a stunning head of Medusa by Nick Allen.