In his grotto and garden concepts, Bernard Palissy (1510–1590) developed the veristic "style rustique". It reflects the upheavals that transformed Renaissance Europe, particularly in the fields of religion and science.

Juliette Ferdinand addresses all of Palissy's areas of interest, including ceramics, garden art, and natural philosophy. She sheds light on his demand for a reform of science and religion that should be guided by a return to the origins of nature and scripture. Beyond the astonishment that their appearance still arouses in the viewer, it is the complexity and richness of an era that the "rustic figulines" testify to.