This sculpture and fountain stands in square Viviani, which is across the Seine from Notre-Dame and close to the backyard of the Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre church. It was created in 1995 by Frenchman Georges Jeanclos, whose works are known for their depiction of human suffering. 
The sign in front of the statue explains that Monsieur Jeanclos was inspired by the story of Saint Julien, a legend popular in the Middle Ages (4/16/07 blog). It presents Saint Julien on a triangular pyramid surrounded by three groups of sufferers supporting the bodies of others in acts of love, tenderness, and compassion. The forest, the hunt, the wounded bodies, the river, and the role of the ferryman—these figure prominently in the legend. The infants raising themselves above the water are moving forward to a better world. When it isn’t winter, a trickle of water flows from the heads of three stags to quench the thirst of everyone passing by.
