PUGET, Pierre
(b. 1620, Marseille, d. 1694, Marseille)

Exterior view

1671-1741
Photo
Hospice de la Charité, Marseille

Puget's two surviving built works, other than the displaced portal of the Toulon Hôtel-de-Ville, are the Halle aux Poissons, a magnificent temple-like building in Marseille, and the famous Hospice de la Charité, Marseille, for which his designs were accepted in 1671, though the building was not completed until 1747.

The ensemble, with its oval, domed chapel surrounded by an open arcaded courtyard, is a highly original achievement of southern French architecture. It displays a thorough knowledge of recent Roman Baroque buildings, in particular of the more austerely decorated but spatially inventive works of Bernini and Rainaldi. It also displays an understanding of the latest developments in Paris, and has affinities in design as well as function with Libéral Bruand’s Hôtel des Invalides and the chapel of the Salpetrière. Pierre Puget apparently had little to do with the actual building of the project, though from 1700–07 François Puget was in charge of its completion.

Puget's chapel guards the entrance to La Vieille Charité, Marseille