Design for a church doorway
Medium
architecture
Classification
architecture
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1911-28-26
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Jean-Charles Delafosse, a French artist who lived from 1734 to 1789, created this Design for a church doorway around 1770. This architectural work, now held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, was acquired through the museum's Advisory Council. It captures a moment of late 18th-century French design, a time of refined architectural ambition shortly before the French Revolution. As a design rather than a finished building, the piece invites viewers to picture the imposing presence of a church entrance. In this era, such doorways functioned as more than practical openings; they acted as sym...