Project for the portal of the Casa de la Villa in Madrid

Teodoro Ardemans was the son of a German guard to King Philip V. As a young man he was trained as a painter, but later worked mainly as an architect. The present drawing, the study for a portal for the Casa de la Villa in Madrid, documents the first important commission received in 1690-1691 by Ardemans soon after being appointed municipal architect. The many decorative elements, alluding to the royal family, and the guard standing by the portal, show Ardemans’ skill as a draftsman. Most sheets known by the artist are projects for temporary decorations, among them one in the British Museum (inv. 1846,0509.175; see M.P. McDonald, Renaissance to Goya. Prints and Drawings from Spain, exhib. cat., London, British Museum, 2012, pp. 189-192, ill.), and a drawing recently acquired by the Museo Nacional del Prado.