Sébastien Bourdon
(French, 1616–1671)
Allegorical Composition in Honor of Christina, Queen of Sweden, 1640s
Black chalk, gray wash
Purchased as the gift of the Fellows, 1961
Although Mariette preferred mats of uniform size for his drawings, the standard format of the mounts was sometimes altered to accommodate larger compositions, such as this sheet. Occasionally he rejected drawings too large to fit properly in his window mats. Unique in Bourdon’s oeuvre, this sheet is the initial design for the border of a printed portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden engraved in 1656 by Michel Lasne (1590–1667).