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Capriccio showing the plan and elevation of a two-storey building with attic, which has a recessed five-bay centre flanked by doorways, one false, in coved niches with pedimented windows above. It has an interior of four rooms, one of which is circular, and a staircase.
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Reference number
Adam vol.55/134
Purpose
Capriccio showing the plan and elevation of a two-storey building with attic, which has a recessed five-bay centre flanked by doorways, one false, in coved niches with pedimented windows above. It has an interior of four rooms, one of which is circular, and a staircase.
Aspect
Plan, elevation
verso elevations, details
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink on drawing 134
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755 - 56
Medium and dimensions
Pen, grey wash
208 x 154
Hand
Robert Adam
Verso
Capriccio in pen showing the elevation of a two-story building with recessed centre of a three-bay coved screen between aedicular niches containing sculpture. Below is part of sketch elevation and details of two figures.
Watermark
coat of arms
Notes
The elevations on the recto and verso are for the same project, although that on the verso has a richer façade. The drawing techniques also differ, that on the verso using hatching for shadows rather than the grey wash of the recto. The architectural style, particularly of this elevation on the recto, is that of the Roman cinquecento palazzo, and it may be compared with the alternative elevations in the same manner in Adam vol.4/70 (see A. A. Tait, Robert Adam: drawings and imagination, Cambridge, 1993, p.164). There is a version of both the plan and elevation by Laurent-Benoít Dewez (1731-1812) among the Dewez drawings in the Rijksarchief, Brussels, thirteen albums, of which one contains 70 'Dessins d'Italie' (seeDewez 1/13).
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
'Bob the Roman': Heroic Antiquity and the Architecture of Robert Adam, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 27 June - 27 September 2003; New York School of Interior Design Gallery, 29 September - 4 December 2004
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