Late 17th Century. Antique Garden Decor

From southern Italy to Provence, building a fountain or a backdrop pavilion, sometimes monumental, is a solution often chosen to give a brilliant conclusion to what should delight the senses.
This large 17th-century watercolor drawing shows an impressive antique-style pavilion, featuring a large niche with a statue, two engaged Doric columns and an antique-style pediment, all inspired by Palladio, one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance.
This spectacular factory is already well overgrown with vegetation.
We don't know whether this is a presentation project or a survey of existing architecture, as the work is unsigned.
In any case, it's a very fine document on the art of landscape gardening before the aesthetic revolution of the English garden.
The drawing was glued to pink cardboard in the 17th century, and some folds are visible.
It is now presented in an early 19th-century frame that sets it off perfectly.
Sheet size : 59 cm x 33 cm