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The western wing of the Louvre was built by Pierre Lescot. Its sculptural decoration is the work of Jean Goujon.
From 1547 Goujon was principally occupied with the sculptural decoration of Lescot's new buildings at the Louvre, where the rich, allegorical system of decoration evolved for the interior of the château of Fontainebleau was for the first time extended to the full height of a façade. Apart from repetitive architectural decoration, the principal embellishments are the magnificent female allegorical relief figures that surround the oeil-de-boeuf windows above the three doors of the south-west wing of the Cour Carrée: War, Peace, Fame, History, Victory and the Glory of the King (stone, 1547-50; in situ but restored). Although in part inspired by details from Trajan's Column in Rome (casts of which had been brought to France by Francesco Primaticcio in 1540), these figures, with their delicately carved and insubstantial drapery, have the movement and exuberance of the Mannerist style.
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