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Possibly unfinished capriccio showing a square sarcophagus supported by four garlanded herms. Beyond is a curving road with columned tombs set in a hillside with mountains beyond
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Reference number
Adam vol.54/Series 5/6
Purpose
Possibly unfinished capriccio showing a square sarcophagus supported by four garlanded herms. Beyond is a curving road with columned tombs set in a hillside with mountains beyond
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink on drawing 6
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755 - 57
Medium and dimensions
Pen186 x 235
Hand
Robert Adam
Watermark
GR and crown
Notes
The mountain landscape with a road at its foot appears with a similar pass in Adam vol.54/Series 5/18. These two drawings may have been immediately inspired by the journey Robert Adam had made to Ancona, Italy in September 1755, when he passed through the Passo del Furlo and Vespasian's Tunnel (see Clerk Collection, Scotland, Clerk 137 and 139), although it might equally have been inspired by the picturesque landscape Adam passed through on his return journey from Italy in 1757. The tombs carved from the rockface may have been taken from such a monument in eastern Turkey, which Adam knew at some stage (see Adam vol.2/122 and also Adam vol.55/99 verso). The drawing in Adam vol.4/119 may possibly be related to this one.
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