Cour Puget

Find a figure whose body seems caught in a moment of effort. The sculptures in Cour Puget often reach, twist or brace themselves, asking your eyes to follow an action across solid stone. Their size begins to make sense when you imagine them in a garden or public square. The courtyard is named for Pierre Puget, a seventeenth-century French sculptor who worked during the reign of Louis XIV. His Milo of Croton tells of a famous athlete trapped at a tree and attacked by a lion. The story brings strength and vulnerability together, with pride leading to disaster. Notice how a body capable of force can also look desperately exposed. Under the glass roof, terraces bring works from different outdoor settings into one space. Sculpture from royal squares occupies lower levels, with garden works on the middle terraces. The changing heights let you compare silhouettes and gestures without losing the sense of each work’s scale. Give one tense hand or turning shoulder a final look. A small passage of carving can carry the urgency of the whole scene.