The Draughtsman's Contract was a 1982 film written and directed by Peter Greenaway. The film is a period piece set in 1694, (not by accident also the year of the first Married Woman's Property Act ). It was originally produced for Channel 4. The score was by Michael Nyman, and borrows extensively from Henry Purcell.

Plot

Mr Neville (Anthony Higgins ), a young and arrogant artist, is contracted to produce a series of 12 landscape drawings of an estate by Mrs Virginia Herbert (Janet Suzman) for her absent and estranged husband. Part of the agreement is that Neville is allowed to make love to Mrs Herbert as part of the payment for the drawings. A number of curious objects appear in Neville's drawings, which point, ultimately to the murder of Mr Herbert, whose body is discovered in the moat of the house. The drawings themselves appear to implicate Neville.

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