Two drawings for a gallery: A fireplace flanked by two sculptures between Corinthian pilasters of Artemis and Diana, two doors below arched overdoors on the sides; and A fireplace flanked by the two doors between pilasters, two sculptures on the sides

The two drawings are alternative projects for the decoration of a gallery, and were probably executed in 1780-5 of French inspiration, although showing various foreign influences. The decoration of the pilasters flanking the doors and fireplace are executed in an Italian neo-Pompeian style typical of the 1780s. The motive of peltas, Roman shields, on the top of the pilasters is often used by Italian artists of the 1780s, but was also taken up by French architects such as Dugourc and Bélanger. On the other hand the fireplaces, decorated with garlands of flowers and antique cameos, are drawn more in the English taste. The garnitures of the fireplace are possibly French and made of blue iron.The variety of influences on these two drawings point to a Russian project, such as the interiors at Pavlovsk. The design of the boudoir of the Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna is very close in style and design to the present two drawings (E. Ducamp et al., Pavlovsk, The Palace and the Park, Paris, 1993, pp. 128-130). The palace was built in 1781 for the Empress Catherine II by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron (1745-1812). The palace was to be decorated for her son Paul and her daughter-in-law, who had just returned from a long trip through Europe under the name of Comte and Comtesse du Nord. By 1786 Cameron was so busy with the construction of Catherine's own palace at Tsarköe Selo that the Florentine architect and designer Vincenzo Brenna (1745-1820) took over. Brenna's education was as a painter, and it was probably he who painted the very intricate decoration of the boudoir's pilasters, and possibly also the bodycolour compositions on the present drawings.