Two monumental stone statues of Jean Aubry and Pierre de Viole, both prominent figures from 16th-century Parisian civic life, occupy paired arched niches set into an ivy-covered masonry wall in this albumen silver print by Eugène Atget, made between 1900 and 1927. The photograph is recorded in the collections of the Musée Carnavalet as a print mounted on an older support. Atget worked with a large-format view camera and glass negatives, and devoted his career to documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris before their disappearance to modernization.

The statue on the left, labeled "Jean Aubry" on its base, depicts a robed figure holding a book, rendered in a severe frontal pose beneath a rounded arch flanked by engaged columns. The figure on the right, labeled "P. de Viole" on its base, is dressed in formal judicial robes and a clerical cap and holds an object in his right hand. The foreground is strewn with fallen leaves and wicker fence panels, and dense ivy nearly engulfs the carved stone surrounds on either side of the niches.

Pierre Viole was among the provosts of the merchants commemorated on the Hôtel de Ville, and his statue, the work of sculptor Louis Schroeder, depicted him holding the trowel with which he laid the first stone of the building on July 15, 1533. The statues of Jean Aubry and Pierre de Viole shown in this photograph originated from the old Hôtel de Ville, which was destroyed by fire in 1871, and were subsequently installed at Square Monge in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.

The square is now known as Square Paul-Langevin. The Musée Carnavalet records this photograph under inventory number PH13044.