Jeanne Mance in Langres (52), Haute-Marne (52)

Jeanne Mance (1606-73), who was born in Langres and died in Montréal, the city she co-founded (then named Ville-Marie) in 1642. Where her statue is in Langres was where she was baptised, where L'Église Saints Pierre et Paul was, and Jean Cardot's statue (1968) is placed where the baptismal fonts were. She left Langres in 1640, responding to a (religious) 'mission', and in 1641 left La Rochelle in a large ship. She arrived in Québec after three months, and the then deserted island of 'Ville-Marie' was founded. She died in Montréal.

The house where Jeanne Mance was born.

Denis Diderot in Langres (52), Haute-Marne (52)

Denis Diderot (1713-84) was born in Langres and died in Paris. His statue in his native town in what is now Place Diderot was erected one hundred years after his death: Diderot is everywhere in the town, as he should be but he has obviously become a victim of the tatty tourist industry. Interestingly, though, the house where he was born is now a Maison de Presse on the ground floor. In 2013, three hundred years after Diderot's birth, the mayor of the town inaugurated La Maison des lumières Denis Diderot, which was originally a building constructed in 1580 by Nicolas Ribonnier and given to La Société Archéologique de Langres by the Breuil de Saint Germain in 1923.

François Pompon in Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

The polar bear by François Pompon in Le Jardin Darcy, Dijon, is a plastic copy of the original sculpted in 1922, and has been there since 1937. It was in fact Pompon's friend Henry Martinet who sculpted this, and he mentions how Pompon met the animal sculptor Rouillard, how Pompon sought to work against realism. 

François Pompon in Saulieu (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

François Pompon (1855-1933) was a noted sculptor born in Saulieu who died in Paris. He is noted for his animal figures, particularly for the simplification of their shapes and polished surfaces. There's a museum in Saulieu partly dedicated to his work, and two reproductions of his animals (a bull and the famous polar bear) are on open display in the town: this is a copy of the original bull in Paris, which a nearby notice says is a symbol of Saulieu to travellers and 'Sédélociens' themselves; the polar bear is a plastic recreation of the original plaster version from 1928. Around the town are sculptures of animals by Pascal Masi and Cévé. Unfortunately we didn't have time for the museum.

Antoinette Quarré, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

Antoinette Quarré (not Carré as some have written) was a seamstress in Dijon and also a poet whom Lamartine praised but Flora Tristan hated. This tomb in the Grand Cimetière de Dijon (Les Péjoces) is a remarkable praise to her, containing strong words of appreciation from Lamartine, angels holding up her book, a profile medallion of her, and a notable plaque from her friends. This stone is almost a work of art in itself.

Flora Tristan, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

Flora Tristan (1803-1844), as this Allée named after her says, was a writer, a feminist and a, er, revolutionary. She has her eccentricities, though, and her Le Tour de France : Journal 1843-44 has some weird things in it. She visited Dijon from 18 to 24 April 1844, was in no way interested in seeing the sights, and was more interested in meeting intelligent workers. She'd expected to find a kindred spirit in the worker and poet Antoinette Quarré after Lamartine's good words of her, a great and beautiful 'girl of the people', full of physical and mental energy. But she found Quarré ugly, deformed, grotesque, and with red hair! She continued her search for like-minded people in Dijon with mixed reactions.

Angélique du Coudray, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

In Dijon I was surprised to find a street named after a midwife, although this was in the hospital area near Saint-Apollinaire: Angélique du Coudray (1714 (Wikipédia claims 1712) to 1794)), who was born in Clermont-Ferrand and died in Bordeaux. She was the first person to teach midwifery, and advocated it in place of the amateur practices which had previously been used. In 1759 she published L’Abrégé de l’Art des accouchements, her teaching manual which she updated in 1769 in an illustrated edition. In Le Musée de l'homme in Paris a facsimile of her model 'Machine de Madame du Coudray' is on display.

La Chouette, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

I won't go very far into this as it involves the 'T' word (one of my most hated: Tourism), although this is worthy of mention and is perhaps akin to such legends as the Lincoln imp: La Chouette (or the owl) of L'Église Notre-Dame de Dijon. I won't go into the many stories, but it's enough to say that the rubbing of the owl (if owl it is) is said to bring good luck if it's done with the left hand, a little like (say) rubbing Victor Noir's erection in Père-Lachaise or Montaigne's foot near the Sorbonne (with either hand, no matter, I believe). The owl, of course, is on Rue de la Chouette, and the tourist industry milks the legend by showing hundreds of owl triangles for its tourist circuit, which I obviously didn't do: you've only to see the owl tat (such as tote bags) in the souvenir shops and despair. (Oh, and it brings misfortune to rub the chouette while watching the nearby salamander, so be careful.)

La Chouette.

La Salamandre.

Dominique Labauvie, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

We missed a number of things on our first visit to Dijon, in our crazy rush to get photos of the glyptodon highlighted in Éric Chevillard's hilarious Démolir Nisard.  Dominique Labauvie's Le Champ de feu (1992) was apparently 'Commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, France for the Courthouse of the City of Dijon'.

Bernard Giroux, Rully (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

Bernard Giroux (1950-1987) was a sports journalist noted for his Tour de France and his Grand Prix commentaries. He died just off the Isle of Wight in a high-speed boat steered by Didier Piloni.

Ernest Pinard, Rully (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

Ernest Pinard (1822-1909) was born in Autun (Saône-et-Loire) and died in Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain). He has gone down in history as seeking the indictment of such, er, scandalous books as Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Baudeliare's Les Fleurs du mal. He even attacked Eugène Sue's Les Mystères du peuple after Sue's death by condemning his publisher and his printer. No comment.

L'Art et le vélo au temps du Covid, Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire (71)

In the time of the first Covid confinement, what is there to do? One thing is turn to art, so Régis Noly painted an abandoned bicycle. And a fine specimen it is. À l'année prochaine, Régis !

Marcel Yerly in Clairvaux-les-lacs, Jura (39)

Between 1945 and 1995 Marcel Yerly (1915-2000) made by hand about one hundred models in wood, between fifty and three metres in height or length. In 2006 a rather clumsily-titled Musée des machines à nourrir et courir le monde was dedicated to his work, containing his models, as well (later) as models by others: here (I think) I restrict myself only to works made by Yerly, who was also a painter. Director Claude Miller has explained that Yerly used acacia and boxwood for their durability, walnut, beech and elm for their colour. The museum, held in a large warehouse on the outskirts of the town, is a great tribute to obsession, meticulous attention to detail, and love of (mainly local) history.

Marcel Yerly's workbench.

The Pacific P231 locomotive (1912) made in Le Creusot and Oullins. It had a maximum speed of 90 km per hour and the model train took Yerly 300 hours to make.

A Harley-Davidson (1990).

Crampton 210 (1848). Thomas Crampton's patents had been refused in England, so he went to France and his engines functioned from 1848 to 1914. The record speed was from Melun to Villaroche: 140 km/h. It took Yerly 340 hours to make.

A tool for making Morbier cheese.

A Comté cheese making factory.

A self portrait of Yerly dated 1990, when he was 75.