Invitations for Costain to photograph some of the most lavishly designed interiors in New York began to arrive during the late 1930's.  With so many eccentric details in the decor pictured  here (aside from the trompe-l'oeil drapery wallpaper) one may not be sure where to look first.  In the center is a concave doorway, curved to embrace the shape of the foyer.  Beyond that is the main entrance framed in some unfinished knotty wood and topped this time with a broken pediment.  A huge urn at right sits on a marble pedestal and is festooned with a black ceramic relief of icanthus leaves anchored by a a large anthropomorphized ram's head.  The sconces have candelabras of three lamps each perched on feathered arrows that impale the mouth of highly stylized lion.  

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Untitled (Round Foyer)

Harold Costain, c. 1940
vintage gelatin silver print
11 × 13  3/4”