STATUE LA FATALITÉ

About

Ernest Christophe – 1885

A bronze sculpture depicting a young nude woman (the personification of Fate) as she descends upon a young satyr, crushing him beneath a wheel, whilst a child, engrossed in his reading, remains completely unmoved by the scene.

The statue, sculpted in the round, was cast in bronze using the lost-wax casting technique. The sculpture is the work of Ernest Christophe (1827–1892), who signed and dated it on the plinth. It was cast using the lost-wax technique by the Gonon Foundry. It was purchased by the State at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1885: from 1885 to 1931 it was on display at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris.

Subsequently assigned to the Louvre Museum, it was placed in the marble storeroom in March 1931 before being moved to Bagnères-de-Luchon that same year. The decree of 10 July 1931 stipulated that it was to adorn Place Lézat, in front of the casino. According to Henri Pac, this initiative was the work of Hippolyte Ducos, MP for Haute-Garonne from 1919 to 1940 and then from 1951 to 1970.

In 1986, it was assigned to the Musée d’Orsay but remained on display in Luchon. The statue is currently stored in the casino’s foyer. The work inspired a quatrain by Leconte de Lisle, published in 1895 in his *Derniers Poèmes* (Last Poems), bearing the same title.