"Beaumarchais" Top 5 Page for this destination Literary Paris Tip by Nemorino

At the corner of Rue Saint-Antoine and the Rue des Tournelles, in the 4th arrondissement near Place de la Bastille, there is a bronze statue of the playwright Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), the author of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, among other plays. In my first three photos I have tried to show the statue from three different angles.

The statue was commissioned by the city of Paris and was created in 1895 by the French sculptor Louis Clausade (1865–1899).

Usually when a new statue was set up there would be a big inauguration ceremony with lots of speeches, but in this case someone remembered that Beaumarchais was not only a famous author, but also an adventurer and speculator who had become very wealthy through obscure business dealings. Since corruption was a sensitive issue in the 1890s, it was eventually decided to avoid possible controversy and set up the statue as inconspicuously as possible, without any ceremony, so as to honor the author but not the speculator.

Somehow the statue survived the Nazi occupation of Paris during the Second World War (1940-1944), when many bronze statues were melted down for use in weapons production. Nobody knows why the Nazis left him standing, since Beaumarchais (despite his somewhat dubious financial dealings) was well known as a progressive thinker in his day. Nothing in his writings bears any resemblance to Nazi ideology.

The statue was removed much later, in 2009, but only because of construction works which lasted for over a year. The statue was returned to its place in the autumn of 2010.

I have mentioned Beaumarchais in various other places, particularly in my tip on the Théâtre Espace Marais. This is a small theater on rue Beautreillis, just a couple blocks from the Beaumarchais statue. Once I went there and saw a lively production of his play The Marriage of Figaro, on which Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro was based.

Also I have mentioned Beaumarchais in my Père Lachaise Cemetery tip, because I think I might have found his grave there, but only maybe.

In 1996 the French director Édouard Molinaro made a biographical film called Beaumarchais l'insolent (Beaumarchais the Scoundrel). I have never seen the film, except for the trailer on YouTube, but I later read the screenplay when it was issued as a book (fifth photo).

Address: Corner of Rue Saint-Antoine & Rue des Tournelles
Directions:
Vélib' 4101, 4007
Location on the Vélib' map
Métro Bastille
Website: http://lindependantdu4e.typepad.fr/arrondissement_de_paris/2010/12/beaumarchais-remonte-sur-son-pi%C3%A9destal.html