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What a bust! French town replace patriotic female statue - because her breasts are too BIG
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:25 PM on 2nd April 2011
A small French town has replaced a patriotic statue in its town hall - because its breasts were deemed too big.
The mayor of Neuville-en-Ferrain, in northern France, swapped the busty model with a more modest replacement after locals in the town 'started to gossip'.
The terracotta bust of Marianne - the traditional female embodiment of the French Republic in a Phrygian cap - was an original work by a local artist, installed in 2007 at Neuville-en-Ferrain's town hall.
Inspiration: The revealing statue of Marianne, left was based on French model Laetitia Cast, right. It caused towns people in Neuville-en-Ferrain to 'gossip'
But a town hall employee, who did not wish to be named, said: 'Remarks were made, during weddings for example.
'It was making people gossip.'
Mayor of Neuville-en-Ferrain, Gerard Cordon, persuaded councillors to approve 900 euros (£795) in this year's budget to buy a replacement, a more conventional bust of Marianne modelled on the statuesque French model Laetitia Casta.
The artist who made the rejected bust, Catherine Lamacque, said she gave it outsized breasts deliberately, 'to symbolise the generosity of the Republic'.
The town hall bought her terracotta statue in 2007 for 1,400 euros.
The controversial 'busty bust' has been replaced in Neuville-en-Ferrain at the mayor's request
She said: 'The mayor has had it under his nose for several years. He chose it from among other designs even before I baked it.
'His decision is absurd. I only hope he will not have it destroyed.'
Another town hall official who asked not to be named said he regretted the bust's removal, which was done 'not by a joint decision but by the mayor alone'.
'It was a unique work. After all, Marianne is a symbol of motherhood.'
