Le bélier rétif

At the beginning of the 19th century, the knight Parthon the Von created this part of the park as a romantic wilderness: he made nature do his will, just as the shepherdess wanted to tame the ram. In 1843, he published a book of fables, including one about a shepherd and a ram, in which the ram (or nature) proves to be the cleverest.

A shepherd, with a stroke of his staff, accidentally
Broke the horn of the most beautiful ram
And asks him, in tears, to promise
Not to tell the master of the flock
"Although your wrong to me is extreme",
The ram replied, "Your tears have managed to touch me, I will be silent, but can we hide
A fact that speaks for itself".

The French sculptor Emile-Antoine Bourdelle was a contemporary and collaborator of Auguste Rodin. Best known for his monumental sculptures, Bourdelle also created striking portraits. He drew inspiration from both classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, sometimes in a more lyrical style, sometimes in a strictly archaic one. The expressive energy of his art is typical. More than 40 years after his death, Bourdelle has gained an international reputation as a pioneer of twentieth-century monumental sculpture. As a teacher, he also played a role in the formation of a generation of younger artists, including Alberto Giacometti, Germaine Richier and Hans Arp.