Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Joseph Sec monument, located 8 Pasteur Avenue in Aix-en-Provence, was erected in 1792 by Joseph Sec (1716–94), a Jacobin bourgeois and master carpenter who became real estate developer. This pyramid mausoleum, dedicated to the municipality "observing the law", celebrates law and justice through a syncretism of biblical, Masonic and revolutionary symbols. The statue of Themis dominates the building, while Moses, Saint John the Baptist and allegories of Europe and Africa adorn the facades. Four cartridges bear moral inscriptions, including one dated the "4th of Liberty 1792".

Joseph Sec, born in Cadenet in an affluent family, settled in Aix where he accumulated a fortune thanks to the timber trade and the construction of the city's northern districts. An alleged grey and freemason penitent, he conceived this monument as an ideological will, reflecting his social ascension and convictions. The bas-reliefs, attributed to Barthélémy Hardigny, and the seven biblical stone statues of Calissane (acquired after the dissolution of the Jesuits in 1763) reinforce its unique character. The monument, classified in 1969, escaped post-revolutionary destruction.

The garden side houses a gallery of statues representing figures from the Old Testament, originally intended for the Jesuit College of Aix. These works, carved by Pierre Pavillon between 1663 and 1670, were purchased by Sec during the sale of Jesuit goods. A missing statue of Esther and a plaster commemorating a worker killed during the work (described in 1894) testify to the site's transformations. The ensemble, owned by the commune, illustrates the transition from an old order to the Revolution, through the prism of an enlightened self-taught.

Michel Vovelle points out that the monument embodies a "anthem to the law", combining religious and republican references. The profile of Louis XVI on the pedestal of Thémis suggests a political ambiguity, between monarchical fidelity and adherence to revolutionary ideals. This cenotaph, a rare and preserved example of Provencal revolutionary art, offers a key to understanding the mentalities of a pivotal era, where tradition and modernity intertwine in a personal and collective work.

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