LESCOT, Pierre
(b. ca. 1510, Paris, d. 1578, Paris)

Attic of the Façade of the Louvre (detail)

c. 1550
Stone
Palais du Louvre, Paris

Shortly before his death, François I commissioned Pierre Lescot to rebuild the western wing of the Louvre. In 1550 he was joined by the sculptor Jean Goujon. Together they developed an architectural vocabulary, playing with perspective, accentuating the reliefs in the façade's upper reaches.

On the attic level, below a pediment containing two winged Victories, Henri II is represented in the guise of Mars and opposite Bellona; the window between them is flanked by two bound and kneeling captives.