Executed using ruler and compass, this highly controlled drawing proposes a design for the architecture of the doorframe; it ignores the furniture of the doors themselves. A relationship is thus implied with other apertures of the wall’s surface – other doors, windows – even though wall is not itself represented. Decoration is a matter of shape and profile, not motif. Cross-hatching accentuates the upper curve of the open pediment by suggestions of shadow. The consoles, mascarons and garlands no more than underscore the dramatic counterpoint of solids and voids, projection and recession.

lot 293 in a French auction; Christie's (London); purchased there by Professor Anthony Blunt, London (1907-1983), n.d.; Blunt Bequest via the Art Fund 1984

Drawings Gallery Display - Ornament by Design, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/04/2016-12/06/2016

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, lower right of centre: bunch of grapes, 4 cm high, 11 rows, no additional stems or marks (see drawing in file – no match in Heawood or Piccard).

Inscription: Verso: lower left, graphite: "76"; lower centre, graphite: "8f" altered from "63". Mount (removed, in portfolio from P&D), Recto: right of centre, graphite: “76”; lower right, graphite: “Blunt 116 / L10 [this last number crossed out] / Oppenord 1676-1742 //”; lower right corner, on label hidden under catalogue clipping, graphite: "Oppenord"; lower right corner, printed clipping from an auction catalogue, black ink: “293. Chambranle de port orne de mascarons et de guirlandes. / --A la plume. H. 0,330 ; L. 0,237. //”. Mount (removed, in portfolio from P&D), Verso: upper left corner, graphite: “40”; upper left corner, blue ink: “SK 20.1”; upper right corner, graphite, circled: “85”; upper left corner of a separate paper glued to centre of mount, graphite: “D3-40 / 3 //”; lower left corner of separate paper glued to centre of mount, graphite: “205”; lower left, graphite: “293 / ao / lis 4 //”.

Collector's mark: none.