Hôtel Boyer de Fonscolombe

The facade of the Hotel Boyer de Fonscolombe features a central balcony supported by two monumental stone atlantes, figures carved to appear as if they are straining under the weight of the masonry above. Jean-Baptiste Boyer de Fonscolombe, a wealthy parliamentary official, commissioned the residence in seventeen fifteen. He demanded a design that showcased his family status during the height of the seventeenth century building boom in Aix. The sculpture captures the tension of the era's ambition and its rigid social hierarchy.