Simple stereometric shapes were one of the preoccupations of the age. In all areas, people sought to get down to the fundamental elements. In architecture it was the cube, the pyramid, the cylinder and the sphere – which in certain French projects appear in a completely pure form. Stanley did not go so far as that, but the chapel in this drawing is in a characteristically semispherical shape. The watercolour technique used by Stanley underlines the sombre impression. He colours his wall darkest at the top and allows the paint to run down irregularly. The technique was not unusual, but it was used with particular effect in the mausoleums and creates an impression of cold and damp.
