Esquisse de détail pour l' Hôtel de Ville de Paris : La voûte d'acier, figure d'un édile parisien bras levé, tenant une épée

Another Laurens sketch for the Hôtel de Ville's 'steel vault' composition depicts a Parisian alderman (édile parisien) with raised arm holding a sword — a figure of civic authority and republican resolve. The alderman or city councilor was the embodiment of municipal self-government, and elevating such a figure to monumental scale on the walls of Paris's town hall asserted the dignity and historical legitimacy of Parisian civic institutions. The raised sword suggests not militarism but authority — the sword as symbol of justice and governance rather than war.

The upward-reaching arm with sword creates a strong vertical accent in the composition, the figure's energy directed above the viewer. Laurens models the face and hands with more finish than the surrounding compositional elements, establishing the psychological center of the group.