Jacques Martin, the mayor of Nogent-sur-Marne to the east of Paris and member of Mr Sarkozy's UMP party, commissioned the statue to honour the mostly Italian immigrant women who used to work at a feather factory in the town.
But when French daily Le Parisien on Sunday revealed the plan for the statue more than six-and-a-half feet tall, at a cost of over 80,000 euros (£67,000), the opposition and even the first lady's friends were up in arms.
A source close to Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy said she agreed to model for sculptor Elisabeth Cibot as she admires her work, but that "it was never suggested that her name would appear".
Modelling "is her former job, she no longer does it commercially, but she's often asked to do it, and she often agrees, and always without being paid," the source said.
But the swiftly gathering scandal "is using something that has nothing to do with politics to political ends," one of her friends said, requesting anonymity. Read on and comment » | Source: AFP | Sunday, February 12, 2012
