Adrien Orville FLORENS
See onthe map
Child, subject of a funerary monument.
Born in Mauritius, dead at twelve, in 1885, this child left no trace other than his monument. It is the work not of a sculptor but of an architect, Jean-Marie Boussard, an unusual thing for a child's grave. The inscription fits in two lines and reduces the first name to an initial.
The story
The monument is not by a sculptor but by an architect: Jean-Marie Boussard. Such a sculpture is unusual on a child's grave, and the signature points to a commission of rare ambition.
Adrien Orville Florens had been born in Mauritius in 1873. He died at Chalmaison on 27 August 1885, at twelve. Nothing else of his life is documented: it is the monument, not the child, that the cemetery has kept.
The inscription runs to two lines: “Famille FLORENS — A. FLORENS 1873-1885.” The first name is cut down to an initial, and the island where he was born is not mentioned.
The grave
A remarkable monument, of a kind unusual for a child's grave, and whose author is not a sculptor but an architect: Jean-Marie Boussard. The inscription, by contrast, fits in two lines: “Famille FLORENS — A. FLORENS 1873-1885.” The first name is reduced to an initial, and the Mauritius where he was born goes unmentioned.
On site, do not miss
An unusual sculpture for a child's grave, by the architect Jean-Marie Boussard. The inscription fits in two lines: “Famille FLORENS — A. FLORENS 1873-1885.”
Visitors' questions
Where is Adrien Florens's grave?
In Division 47, chemin du Tertre, first row. The monument is remarkable, and its author is not a sculptor but an architect: Jean-Marie Boussard. The inscription, for its part, runs to two lines.
Adolphe EudeWho was Adrien Florens?
A child who died at twelve, born in Mauritius in 1873. Nothing else is documented: it is the monument, not the life, that left a trace. He died in 1885, and his forename is reduced to an initial on the stone.
Alexis Bouvier, Division 47Why is his monument remarkable?
Because it is an unusual piece of sculpture for a child — and because it is the work of an architect, Jean-Marie Boussard, which points to a commission of rare ambition for a child's grave.
Abel FaivreWhere did he come from?
From Mauritius, where he was born in 1873. Adrien Orville Florens died at Chalmaison, in the Seine-et-Marne, on 27 August 1885, aged twelve: a Paris grave for a child from the Indian Ocean.
Henri Pellet, Division 47Alexis Bouvier, Division 47Audio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
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