French mayor 'removes statue because its breasts are too big'

The mayor of a town in France has thrown a patriotic female statue out of his town hall because its breasts were too big.

The terracotta bust of Marianne - the traditional female embodiment of the French Republic in a Phrygian cap - was an original work by a local artist, installed in 2007 at the town hall in Neuville-en-Ferrain, population 10,000. "It was making people gossip," said one town hall employee. "Remarks were made, during weddings for example."



Mayor Gerard Cordon persuaded councillors to approve 900 euros in this year's budget to buy a replacement, a more conventional bust of Marianne modelled on the statuesque French model Laetitia Casta. The artist who made the rejected bust, Catherine Lamacque, said she gave it outsized breasts deliberately, "to symbolise the generosity of the Republic."

The town hall bought her terracotta statue in 2007 for 1,400 euros. "The mayor has had it under his nose for several years. He chose it from among other designs even before I baked it," she said. "His decision is absurd. I only hope he will not have it destroyed."