The Draughtsman's Contract

Group of people in ornate 17th or 18th-century costumes with wigs, posed in front of a columned building

The year is 1694, the place is England. A brash young artist makes an extortionate demand in return for a dozen views of a country estate, unaware that each of his drawings contains a clue to his own guilt.

Director Peter Greenaway’s first feature film is relentlessly analytical, driven by Michael Nyman’s propulsive score, and dressed up as a lavish period piece: a visual feast that systematically undermines the truth of appearances. Greenaway’s summary: “the poor stupid draughtsman, this mixture of arrogance and innocence, gets hooked because he thinks he’s drawing what he sees.”

The Draughtsman's Contract screens in a new 4K restoration by the BFI National Archive.

Benjamin Anderson, Associate Professor of the History of Art & Classics and Society for the Humanities Faculty Fellow, will introduce the film, which is presented in conjunction with the Society for the Humanities focal theme: Scale.

Free admission! Sponsored by the Society for the Humanities.

Part of our "Scale on Screen" series. Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.