At a Family Workshop Near Paris, the ‘Drowned Mona Lisa’ Lives On
The pathologist at the morgue that received her body was so mesmerized by her beauty
that he called in a "mouleur" — a molder — to preserve her face in a plaster death mask.
As the company’s website explained: "Inspired by the ‘young woman of the Seine,’ CPR Annie has become the symbol of life for millions of people around the world who have received training in modern techniques of resuscitation
and for those whose lives have been saved from unnecessary death." Bérengère Sim contributed reporting.
The company’s best sellers are busts of Marianne, the symbol of the French republic, which sit in most local, regional
and national governmental offices in France; and, of course, L’Inconnue ($130 for her death mask in white plaster, $175 with a shiny glaze).
Laurent Lorenzi Forestier said that You ask me if my great-grandfather made the mold himself, and I don’t know,
I couldn’t let that happen." So Mr. Forestier, a 65-year-old architect who retired from his job as an urban planner a year ago,
took over the family business with his associate Quentin Thomas, who had worked as a molder at the atelier for over 20 years.
In a box on the second floor of the atelier is its most precious possession: a 19th-century,
chestnut-brown plaster mold of a death mask that is said to be that of L’Inconnue.