Inscribed
Inscribed in ink in Robert Adam's hand Sketch from my window in palazzo Guarnieri; in ink 151.
Signed and dated
- Undated, between February 1755 and May 1757.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil and pen198 x 213
Hand
Robert Adam
Notes
Robert Adam had lodgings at the Palazzo (Casa) Guarnieri from February 1755 until May 1757 (see J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London,1962, p.151). It was probably situated off the Via Sistina and near the existing Villa Malta, itself on the site of the gardens of Lucullus. The sketch is probably a view over the gardens towards the various buildings of the adjoining monastery and church of San Isidoro, a college of the Irish Franciscans (see Gianbattista Nolli, Nuova Piante di Roma, 1748). The character of Adam's view is supported by an early nineteenth-century painting of the Roman rooftops by John Newbott 'View of Rome from the villa Malta' (see I. Barsali, Ville di Roma: Lazio, Milan, 1970, p.438) and by an anonymous drawing in red chalk of c.1730 reproduced in R. Keaveney, Views of Rome, London, 1988, p.186. The latter drawing shows the same roof system drawn by Adam here, for which there is sketch in Adam vol.55/119 verso. There are two more views by Adam in this area and from the other side of the Villa Malta and Santa Trinita dei Monti (see Adam vol.57/90 and 57/110), and a view of the campanile at Santa Trinita at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (see 3426.47 verso; this may originally have been in the present Adam volume, and acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum through C.J. Richardson. It is numbered in ink 12 by the same hand that numbered Adam vol.57).
Literature
A. A. Tait, Robert Adam, The Creative Mind: from the sketch to the finished drawing catalogue of an exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 1996, cat.4
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
The Adam Brothers in Rome: Drawings from the Grand Tour, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 25 September 2008 - 14 February 2009
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