Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
Capriccio showing a mountainous and wooded landscape with a road passing over an alpine bridge between gorges. A towered and ruinous castle is on rocks above a ravine, with a waterfall at its foot.
Browse
Reference number
Adam vol.54/Series 5/14
Purpose
Capriccio showing a mountainous and wooded landscape with a road passing over an alpine bridge between gorges. A towered and ruinous castle is on rocks above a ravine, with a waterfall at its foot.
Aspect
Perspectiveverso plan
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink on drawing 14
Signed and dated
- Undated, possibly 1757
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen220 x 311
Hand
Robert Adam
Verso
Study in pen of an interior plan showing semi-engaged columns with their dimensions.
Watermark
bird on monti circle
Notes
This composition is in the strong picturesque style of Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) and may have been taken from one of his prints. A similar landscape can be seen in Adam vol.54/Series 5/18 and in Adam vol.55/162 verso. In 1760 James Adam bought '... 2 landscapes by Poussin and one by S. Rosa - all clever and I'm sure will please Bob' (see J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.372). Two of Rosa's paintings appeared in the Adam sale of 1821 (Christie's London Catalogue of the Effects of Robert Adam Esq. Dec. 9 July 1821 & following days) and there is a small drawing after him in volume 56 (see Adam vol.56/31). A similar style of drawing is found in Robert Adam's proposals for the landscape at Kedleston in Derby, see especially his design for a grotto 'of the early 1760s' (see L. Harris, Robert Adam and Kedleston, London, 1987, p.85, pl.72). The remains of a sketch for a similar composition is apparent on the verso of Adam vol.28/1. The pencil drawing has been partially inked over.This drawing may have been inspired by the picturesque landscape through which Robert Adam passed on his way home in 1757.
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