Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
London: Parliament House (designs for). Part of a plan and elevation showing a Parliament House with four-bay portico, pediment and oculus dome, with a flanking colonnade terminated by a three-bay pavilion with dome.
Browse
Reference number
Adam vol.7/1
Purpose
London: Parliament House (designs for). Part of a plan and elevation showing a Parliament House with four-bay portico, pediment and oculus dome, with a flanking colonnade terminated by a three-bay pavilion with dome.
Aspect
Plan, elevation
verso plans, section
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink in a contemporary hand Parliament House / 1760
Signed and dated
- 1760
Medium and dimensions
Pen
205 x 320, four folds vertical fold lines
Hand
Robert Adam (attributed to)
Verso
Pen drawings showing four outline architectural plans and a section of arcading, the latter having an inscription in ink in a contemporary hand: Teatrum / Verona / --
Notes
This drawing and that in Adam vol.7/2 are laid onto the first paste down of the volume.
James Adam arrived in Italy and was in Venice in June 1760, leaving for Verona in October; he arrived in Rome at the beginning of February 1761. His principal work on the Parliament House scheme was in hand when he was in Rome in 1762 and, according to Fleming, 'He had been playing with these in desultory fashion for the past eighteen months, taking them up and then putting them aside again, but sketchy and unsatisfactory though they were they at least provided a basis on which to work and so he decided to hurry them on to completion' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, pp.300-01). On 24 August 1760 James Adam wrote to Robert Adam in London with a list of eight queries about the uses of the various rooms in the present Parliament building. It is possible that this and the companion plan in Adam vol.7/2 were made in London, perhaps by Robert Adam, and taken to Italy to be worked on in the academic manner. Such an explanation would at least explain the letter-like folds of this drawing. The drawing on both recto and verso shows a bold and vigorous hand, more likely to be that of Robert than James Adam. In Rome in February 1762 James referred to 'Bob's plan and critique' for Parliament and these sketchy plans may be related (National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, Clerk of Penicuik Collection, GD18/4927).
James Adam arrived in Italy and was in Venice in June 1760, leaving for Verona in October; he arrived in Rome at the beginning of February 1761. His principal work on the Parliament House scheme was in hand when he was in Rome in 1762 and, according to Fleming, 'He had been playing with these in desultory fashion for the past eighteen months, taking them up and then putting them aside again, but sketchy and unsatisfactory though they were they at least provided a basis on which to work and so he decided to hurry them on to completion' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, pp.300-01). On 24 August 1760 James Adam wrote to Robert Adam in London with a list of eight queries about the uses of the various rooms in the present Parliament building. It is possible that this and the companion plan in Adam vol.7/2 were made in London, perhaps by Robert Adam, and taken to Italy to be worked on in the academic manner. Such an explanation would at least explain the letter-like folds of this drawing. The drawing on both recto and verso shows a bold and vigorous hand, more likely to be that of Robert than James Adam. In Rome in February 1762 James referred to 'Bob's plan and critique' for Parliament and these sketchy plans may be related (National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, Clerk of Penicuik Collection, GD18/4927).
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