MAISON DU GRAND VENEUR

The Grand Veneur's house was built around 1554 by a wealthy Laval merchant, Jacques Marest. Shared in 1699 - the left side has lost much of its original decoration - it takes its name from a succession of varnished terracotta figurines representing wild animals such as wild boar. The craze for Renaissance art was illustrated on large buildings such as churches where the castle was built, but also, as here, on private homes. The surviving window span is decorated with Corinthian columns, supporting entablatures with palmettes and foliage from which busts and putti stand out. Already classical, the architectural decoration is not completely free from the ornamental abundance of the first Renaissance.