One Half of a Design for an Overdoor (?) (recto); Two Designs for Altars, one for a Capital (?) (verso) 1700 - 1780

This drawing of a design for an overdoor and altars was made by an anonymous artist on a sheet of paper. Although undated, the baroque character of its extravagant forms makes it likely that it originated somewhere in Europe. But what does it mean to design a door or altar? Well, it could tell us something about who could afford to construct such elaborate things and the social hierarchies of the time. Altars would have been located in churches that were incredibly important institutions that shaped spiritual and secular life, and this drawing could tell us something about the relationship between religion, art, and society. Overdoors were often found in wealthy homes. These kinds of domestic spaces can tell us a great deal about how a certain social class wanted to present itself. We can learn much more about this drawing and its historical and cultural context by consulting historical records of religious institutions, architectural treatises, and social histories of the period.