Workshop of Luigi Valadier (1726–1785)
Design for the Front of a Pronaos, ca. 1778
15 1/8 × 8 7/8 in. (385 × 225 mm)
Pen, ink, and watercolor on paper
Museo Napoleonico, Rome
© Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali — Museo Napoleonico
This drawing depicts an extraordinary object (now lost) that was once part of the deser of the Bailli de Breteuil. The two columns must have been veneered with lapis lazuli, and the little pronaos, or vestibule, was decorated with a dragon-like creature on the attic and a Medusa head between the columns.