A sculpture called "La Source" (The Spring) stands quietly in the center of Les Sables-d'Olonne, representing a touching story of friendship between two artists who left their mark on this French coastal town. Located in the parking area of Sainte-Croix Abbey and visible from Avenue de Verdun, the statue depicts a nude young woman holding a cornucopia from which a stream of water flows.
Many residents of Les Sables-d'Olonne have likely passed by this nymph statue multiple times without truly noticing it, yet the artwork deserves closer attention. The sculpture was installed in 1969 and is the work of Maurice Legendre, a sculptor originally from Angers who was born in 1875. Legendre received his training at the École des beaux-arts in his hometown and acquired a solid reputation in the local artistic community throughout his career, both for his statuary works and decorative commissions related to architecture.
In Angers, Legendre was responsible for restoring the interior of the Chapel of King René at the castle, creating the statue of Saint-Louis for the Champs des Martyrs, and producing several works displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts. Despite being from Angers, Maurice Legendre had strong ties to Les Sables-d'Olonne, where he stayed periodically between 1913 and the 1930s. He collaborated closely with an architect whose work was significant in Les Sables-d'Olonne: Maurice Durand.
Legendre was responsible for decorating several buildings in Les Sables-d'Olonne, including buildings on Rue Travot, Place Foch, and the Remblai waterfront. His major work in Les Sables-d'Olonne remains undoubtedly the war memorial, commissioned after World War I. Maurice Durand described his friend as "a modest artist of great sensitivity, having in addition the experience of a practitioner who allowed him to create both statuary and decorative sculpture."
Throughout Vendée, Legendre's work can be seen in various locations. He was responsible for restoring sculptures at the church of Saint-Jean-de-Monts and creating eight cement statues there. He decorated the interior and exterior of the Vendée Chamber of Commerce as well as the facade of the departmental PTT hotel in La Roche-sur-Yon. In Les Sables-d'Olonne, his work is visible on the villas Mirasol, Riviera, le Printemps, and Ostrea. Beyond the Les Sables-d'Olonne war memorial, he also created sculptures for war memorials in small Vendée towns including Chantonnay, Angles, Coëx, Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, and Vairé.
However, "La Source" was not a commissioned work. It arrived in Les Sables-d'Olonne only after the sculptor's death on January 29, 1964. The sculpture was located in the garden of the family home in Angers, and his widow offered the statue to the architect Maurice Durand. The city proposed installing it near the Sainte-Croix Abbey museum, which had just been restored.
The statue's placement allowed the city to symbolically affirm a continuity between the arts of the past and those of its time, while paying tribute to Maurice Legendre. This location choice also echoed the sculptor's personal and artistic history. It was precisely in a building adjacent to the current museum, on Rue Printanière, that Legendre had set up his workshop in the early 1920s during the creation of the city's war memorial. The installation of "La Source" represented both a symbolic gesture and a tribute paid by one friend to another, preserving the artistic legacy and friendship between these two creators who significantly shaped the cultural landscape of Les Sables-d'Olonne.
