Pierre de Ronsard and Le Prieuré Saint-Cosme, La Riche, Tours, Indre-et-Loire (37)

The great poet Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85) spent his final twenty years at the twelfth-century Saint-Cosme priory at La Riche near Tours, where Catherine de Medici and her son Charles IX had given him the administration. It is here that he died and where he is buried, although his stone is recent.

For centuries Ronsard suffered neglect, although the quality of his poems were 're-discovered' by such literary figures as Sainte-Beuve and Flaubert. More recently, he has been quoted in songs by Serge Gainsbourg, Alain Bashung, Juliette Gréco, etc.

Ronsard's home at the priory, screened by the pergola.

His home from a different angle, and the ruins of the church.

Ronsard's latest tombstone.

La Maison de George Sand, Nohant-Vic, Indre (36)

George Sand (1804-76) was brought up by her grandmother in Nohant-Vic. From 1830 until her death she wrote many novels, short stories, plays and newspaper and journal articles. She spent much of her time between Berry and Paris. The house here is an 18th century rebuild of a medieval manor house. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the house 'for safety reasons and to protect furniture' (their published words in English). My comment on this is that those words are  most meaningless: places I've come across before with this policy do so only to sell postcards and general tat. Anyway, what is the point of visiting a place if you have no personal experiences to take away, apart from elusive memory? Swerve.

There exists, though, a number of things to see around the house for free.

The back of the house.

A tiny part of the garden, with the house on the left. The cemetery is fascinating.

On the right, George Sand's daughter Gabrielle Solange Clésier (1828-99), née Dudevant Sand, wife of the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Clésinger, and almost certainly the product of a relationship between Sand and Stéphane Ajasson de Grandsagne. Solange wrote three novels.

On the left, Jeanne Gabrielle Clésinger (1849-55), Sand's grand-daughter.

On the right, Marie Aurore de Saxe (1748-1821), Sand's grandmother.

On the left, Maurice François Dupin (1778-1808), Sand's father.

Claudine Jeanne Aurore Dudevant Sand (1866-1961), wife of Frédéric Lauth, and Sand's grand-daughter.

George Sand (1804-76), Amantine Aurore Dupin, Baronne Dudevant, wife of Casimir Dudevant.

Marc-Antoine Sand Dudevant (1863-64), Sand's grandson.

Maurice Dudevant (1823-1889), Baron Dudevant, Sand's son.

Marceline Claudine Augustine Calamatta (1842-1901), Maurice Dudevant's wife, and Sand's daughter-in-law.

Gabrielle Jeanne Lucille Dudevant Sand (1868-1909), Roméo Palazzi's wife, and Sand's grand-daughter.

Antoinette Sophie Victoire Delaborde (1773-1837), Maurice Dupin's wife, and Sand's mother.

Edmond Plauchut (1824-1909), a friend of the family, and a writer.

George Sand by Jean-Baptiste, or Auguste, Clésinger, Sand's son-in-law.

Maurice, George Sand's son.

My George Sand posts:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
La Maison de George Sand, Nohant-Vic, Indre
George Sand in Paris: Literary Île-de-France #49
George Sand: La Petite Fadette
Norma Tessum Onda, St Maurice, La Rochelle
George Sand and Le Moulin d'Angibault, Montipouret, Indre

The Frescoes in l'église Saint Martin, Nohant-Vic, Indre (36)

L'Église Saint Martin de Vic is two kilometres from George Sand's house, and Sand underlined its importance. It is indeed a masterpiece of France's religious heritage, with its magnificent frescoes from the twelfth century. Due to scaffolding and covering, I was unable to take a suitable photo of the exterior.

Jacques Tati in Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre, Indre (36)

Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre, where Jacques Tati's first full-length film Jour de Fête (1947) was largely filmed, is very much influenced by the film and the director, as the central square and its shops, etc, can't fail to remind us. There's an eponymous museum which shows a film of the making of it, a statue of François the postman (played by Tati himself) stands outside it, and there's even an app giving information on various places shown in the film throughout the small (850 pop.) village. Actor Pierre Richard was guest of honour at the inauguration ceremony at Sainte-Sévère on the 70th anniversary of the film, where a roundabout operated by pedal power (similar to that used in the film) was permanently installed. There's also a roulotte (gypsy caravan) to remind of the fête foraine.

Le Musée des racines and l'abbé Aymon, Thevet-Saint-Julien, Indre (36)

L'abbé Aymon was the priest in Thevet-Saint-Julien from 1941 to 1987, during which time he sculpted shapes from the natural world, namely roots. From roots his knife created small and large representations of animals, from, say, giraffes to bugs. The church St Julien was built at the end of the 12th century to the beginning of the 13th, although it is shot through with the work of L'abbe Aymon in the 20th century, who made very remarkable wooden sculptures, such as the balustrade, which (conventionally enough) bear the words: 'Le Seigneur-Dieu les expulsa du jardin d'Eden' on the left, but on the right the very less conventional: 'O heureuse faute qui nous valut le redempteur'. A remarkable museum, a remarkable church, and a remarkable curé, who was not only a religious figure, but also an artist, an inventor, and something of a voyant. Le Musée des racines remembers this man, illustating his artistic work by its many examples of sculpted wood. It is quite a fascinating place to visit.

The church is just opposite Le Musée de racines, with its oak door (made from nearby trees) representing the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luc and John and their symbols, a rather bad shot I took of the balustrade, and an example of the a carved wooden pillar: all sculpted by l'abbé Aymon.