# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, French]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary Nicolas le Valois of Escoville \(1475-1541\), one of the richest merchants of Caen, built in the centre of Caen four buildings surrounding a courtyard richly decorated in Italian Renaissance style. The work began in 1533: the pavilion and the right wing, perhaps built by Hector Sohier, were completed in 1535, while the main building on the street, attributed to Blaise Le Prestre \(Lepestre\) and his sons, was erected in 1537-38. The main building manifests a new formula for linking superimposed windows or niches into a vertical strip, which is achieved by the use of full columns carrying the eye emphatically upwards. The sculpture is also of a more advanced type, classical in its detail and in its emphasis on the frontal view. The photo shows the south side of the courtyard. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Bird's eye view]() - [Burial lantern]() - [Castle]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()