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Academic study showing a plan of a symmetrical building with three-bay portico and an apsidal elevation with steps enclosing a series of halls of rectangular, circular and other plans. Also on the sheet is a detail of a capital and a small window.
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Reference number
Adam vol.55/120
Purpose
Academic study showing a plan of a symmetrical building with three-bay portico and an apsidal elevation with steps enclosing a series of halls of rectangular, circular and other plans. Also on the sheet is a detail of a capital and a small window.
Aspect
Plan, elevation, details
verso plan, elevation, section
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink on drawing 120; in chalk ten times on the recto R and A
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755 - 56
Medium and dimensions
Black chalk and pencil
226 x 343
Hand
Robert Adam
Verso
Academic study in black chalk showing plan, elevation and section of part of a building with a shallow dome supported by pilasters with aedicular windows; beside this is an apsidal plan showing a double arcade flanked by two oval staircases. The building here is a version of the plan in pencil on the recto. The perspective in Adam vol.55/165 may be considered the source for these schemes.
Watermark
coat of arms
Notes
The building on the verso is a version of the plan in pencil here. There are other smaller versions of the plan in the chalk drawing on the recto at Adam vol.55/130 recto and verso, 55/142 recto and verso, and 55/121. There are similar academic exercises on this composition in volumes 7, 9 and 12. This and the other schemes referred to are variations on a plan for a type of courtyarded villa. They are possibly architectural exercises undertaken by both Robert Adam and Laurent-Benoít Dewez (1731-1812), whose corrections may be the chalk overdrawing. This formula also appears in Adam vol.55/121 and 124. A similar plan form is used for Adam's London Opera House pavilion after the 1789 fire, which is found in Adam vol.10/166.
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