Fresque

A frieze-like composition of animals arranged across a landscape — deer, a horned bull or cow, dogs, a bird perched in a small tree, and a robed human figure at the far right. All the forms are rendered in dark teal-blue silhouette on tan paper, drawn in fluid ink outlines with minimal interior detail. Ground lines and hills divide the composition into registers. The imagery draws on multiple sources — Etruscan tomb painting, medieval bestiaries, cave painting — all filtered through Derain's post-Fauvist decorative sensibility. This is likely a study for a mural or ceramic decoration.