Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre »
MonumentHidden Treasure
Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre », located in Levroux (Indre), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Levroux, Indre, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 46.9795, 1.6143
- Mérimée Reference
- PA36000042
A rural masterpiece by Ernest Nivet (1930), this stone shepherd reclining in a public garden in Levroux soberly embodies the pastoral life of the Berry region, an intimate gift from a sculptor to his home town.
© Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia
History
In the heart of Levroux, a small medieval town in the Indre department with cobbled streets and watchful half-timbered houses, lies a sculpture of astonishing humanity: Ernest Nivet's "Le berger allongé" ("The Lying Shepherd"). Lying on his stomach, this hard stone figure is not enthroned on a triumphal pedestal - he stretches out in the grass of the public garden as if observing his animals in the distance, his eyes on the plains of the Berry region. It's a discreet, almost surprising presence, in contrast to the heroic memorials of the same period. What makes the work so singular is precisely this refusal of grandiloquence. Where the inter-war period was full of steles to dead soldiers and allegories of Victory, Nivet chose an anonymous shepherd, dressed in a coarse cloak, his cheek resting on his forearm, absorbed in a typically southern torpor. The hard stone, cut in large strokes without superfluous polishing, accentuates this impression of raw, almost telluric truth. For visitors, the experience is that of an unexpected encounter. You cross the public garden without expecting it, and suddenly the shepherd is there, at eye level if you come close enough. The sculpture naturally invites you to bend down, change angles and turn around: each vantage point reveals a new detail - a fold in the fabric, the tension in the shoulders, the lightness of the gesture. Children approach it with curiosity, and photographers find that the light is sometimes razor-sharp at the end of the day, and sometimes soft and diffuse on overcast days. The setting itself helps to set the scene: the public gardens of Levroux, modest and peaceful, far from the tourist crowds, offer the shepherd a setting on his own scale. In the surrounding area, the town has preserved some remarkable medieval remains - the collegiate church of Saint-Sylvain, the ramparts - reminders that Levroux was once a stronghold of the Berry region. In this context, Nivet's sculpture acts as a link between the deep rural memory of the region and the artistic sensibility of the early 20th century.
Architecture
The sculpture is distinguished by the choice of a hard stone, probably compact limestone from the Centre region, worked with a deliberate economy of means. Ernest Nivet adopts a broad stroke treatment - wide planes, clean edges, few chiselled details - which gives the whole an almost monolithic solidity. This technical approach evokes the direct carving favoured by certain sculptors of the early twentieth century, who rejected the preciousness of modelling in favour of an immediate material truth. The posture chosen - the shepherd lying on his stomach, arms folded under his face - is in itself a bold formal statement. Traditional Western sculpture favours verticality, the erect bust, the standing or seated statue that occupies space in an assertive manner. Nivet reverses the convention: his figure hugs the ground horizontally, which implies a reading from bottom to top, an invitation to come closer, to kneel down almost to uncover the face. The drapes of the cloak and pastoral garments are stylised without being schematic, suggesting the coarse fabric without slavishly imitating it. The dimensions, modest for human scale, reinforce the intimacy of the work. The shepherd does not overwhelm the garden space; he blends in, almost camouflaged in the surrounding vegetation, making the discovery all the more striking. The whole piece rests on a discreet base that keeps the sculpture at a slightly higher level than the ground, protecting the material while preserving the illusion of a natural resting place in the grass.
Related Figures
Ernest Nivet (1871-1948) — sculpteur berrichon, élève de Rodin, auteur de l'œuvre et donateur à sa ville nataleAuguste Rodin — maître de Nivet, dont l'influence sur le traitement de la matière et du corps humain est perceptible dans l'œuvreLes bergers de Champagne berrichonne — figures anonymes dont la vie pastorale constitue le modèle vivant et l'inspiration directe de la sculpture
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre » located?
Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre » is located in Levroux, Indre department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre » built?
Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre » dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre » open to visitors?
Statue « Le berger allongé » dite aussi « Le berger couché sur le ventre » is currently closed to visitors.