Editing Pierre Puget (section)

===Toulon and Marseille - naval architecture===
He returned to France in 1669 and divided his time between Toulon and Marseille. He was offered the position chief of decoration for French warships, but before accepting he sent a list of his demands to Colbert; among others, he insisted on being considered an officer, not a worker; and to have final authority for designs, over that of the King's official artists, the painter [[Charles Le Brun]] and the royal sculptor [[François Girardon]]. This was entirely unacceptable to Colbert. Colbert gave Girardon, not Puget, the commission to decorate the ''Royal Louis'', the major new warship of the French fleet. The French fleet needed new ships, and Puget was charged with decorating, ten new men-of-war, as well as designing elegant new building for the headquarters of the fleet.{{Sfn|Lagrange|1868|page=121}}

Puget continued to work on other sculptural and artistic projects in Toulon,  He sculpted a large marble group of the Virgin and Child for the church of [[Lorgues]] and created a monumental wooden retable still in place, for [[Toulon Cathedral]].  In addition, he designed town houses in Aix-en-Provence and several municipal buildings in Marseille,  including the fish market (still in place) and the [[La Vieille Charité]], originally a home for beggars and the indigent, now a cultural center.{{Sfn|Geese|2015|p=304}}

Puget's view of naval architecture soon clashed with the views of the new Commissioner of Fortifications, the Chevalier de Clairville. Clairville changed all of the Puget's plans, removed decoration he considered unnecessary, and rejected his elegant new headquarters building.   Puget appealed to Colbert, but Colbert sided with Clairville.  At the end of 1669, Puget took a leave of absence and departed the dockyards for his traditional sanctuary, Genoa, where he made a series of works, including ''The Virgin'' (1670), now in the oratory of the Church of Saint Philippe de Néri.{{Sfn|Lagrange|1868|page=127}}

When he returned to the dockyards in June 1670, he found they were commanded by a new officer, and that the decoration of ships he had begun had been given to others.  He also learned that, upon the instructions of Colbert, any work he did had to be approved at higher levels by Le Brun and the senior sculptors in Paris. He was to design only what he was told to design. Furthermore, Colbert presented a new argument; British ships had little or no sculptural decoration, and they usually won battles.  Therefore French ships should also be without sculpture.{{Sfn|Lagrange|1868|page=132}}<ref>G. Walton, "Les Dessins d'architecture de Puget pour la reconstruction de l'arsenal de Toulon", ''Information d'histoire de l'Art'', '''10''' (1965), pp.162 ff</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Le premier Royal Louis vu par babord arrière.jpg|Drawing by Puget of the warship [[French ship Royal Louis (1668)|''Royal Louis'']], showing his sculptural decoration on the stern
File:Design for the decoration of a Warship MET 178828.jpg|Design for decoration of a warship
</gallery>