Alexis Piron, Dijon (21), Côte-d'Or (21)

 I mentioned Alexis Piron (1689-1773) a few posts ago, but was interested to see a Rue Piron (dedicated to Alexis or his great-nephew Eugène, I wondered) in Dijon. Sure enough, this is the house where the poet Alexis was born: great to see another tribute to this forgotten writer.

Eugène Piron, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

Another tribute in the Jardin Darcy. Sculptor Eugène Piron (1875-1928) was born in Dijon and died in Salon-de-Provence and was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1903. He sculpted many monuments, although perhaps the most interesting here is that of his bust to his fascinating great-uncle, the poet Alexis Piron in the Jardin de l'Arquebuse in Dijon, whose reputation for his youthful erotic Ode à Priape was to dog him for the rest of his life.

Alexis Piron by his great-nephew Eugène Piron.

Alexis Piron in Dijon, (Côte-d'Or (21))

'ALEXIS PIRON

POÈTE SATIRIQUE

1689 - 1773'

Also in the Jardin de l'Arquebuse in Dijon is Piron's bust. He was a playwright as well as a poet  and a man of undoubted brillance and quick wit, although his first published work, an erotic poem written about the age of twenty – Ode à Priape (1710) – was to dog him throughout his life and prevent him from being elected to the Académie française. His self-composed, self-denigrating epitaph is rather harsh:

'Ci-gît Piron

qui ne fut rien,

Pas même académicien'.