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Capriccio showing plan and elevation for a shallow domed pavilion of nine bays with sculpture on the dome and a three-bay apsidal entrance with niches on either side containing sculpture and relief panels above. Above the elevation is a plan of a circular hall with a ring of columns on the exterior, two double stairs at either side and a courtyard to the rear.
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Reference number
Adam vol.55/109
Purpose
Capriccio showing plan and elevation for a shallow domed pavilion of nine bays with sculpture on the dome and a three-bay apsidal entrance with niches on either side containing sculpture and relief panels above. Above the elevation is a plan of a circular hall with a ring of columns on the exterior, two double stairs at either side and a courtyard to the rear.
Aspect
Plan(s?), elevationverso plan (part)
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink on drawing 109
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1756 - 57
Medium and dimensions
Pen, grey wash285 x 215
Hand
Robert Adam
Verso
Black chalk capriccio showing part of a plan for a rectangular hall with columns and semi-circular staircases at either end, and further halls with apsidal ends. This plan is similar to several schemes, either severelytrimmed or unfinished, in this volume.
Notes
According to Fleming, this drawing was among '...his [Robert Adam's] recent architectural drawings [that] are very smooth and sophisticated, recalling the work of his French contemporaries in Rome, notably Marie-Jean Peyre, whom he probably knew though he never mentions him in his letters...' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.229). Fleming also dates this drawing 1756/57. The drawing has been compared with several of the schemes by Laurent-Benoít Dewez (1731-1812) in the Dessins d'Italie section of his surviving Roman drawings (see A. A. Tait, Robert Adam: drawings and imagination, Cambridge, 1993, p.26, and Dewez 1/18 and in the Dewez drawings in the Rijksarchief, Brussels, thirteen albums of which one contains 70 Dessins d'Italie. The use of casual penwork and grey wash are also typical of Dewez's teaching. There is another variation of this plan and related elevations in Adam vol.55/120 verso.
Literature
Rep. J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, pl.67
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk