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Design showing the entrance elevation of a small two-storey house, with three bays and a pedimented doorway, with single-bay pavilions each side linked by three-bay arcading; it is set in a landscape with trees. Above are two plans showing a central staircase.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/16
Purpose
Design showing the entrance elevation of a small two-storey house, with three bays and a pedimented doorway, with single-bay pavilions each side linked by three-bay arcading; it is set in a landscape with trees. Above are two plans showing a central staircase.
Aspect
Plans and elevation
Inscribed
verso Inscribed in ink in a contemporary hand Cardinal Richelieu / Commonwealth / The Fort George Ravelin / umpire / 1749 / Alex Postle.
Signed and dated
- 1752
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen
187 x 205
Hand
James Adam
Verso
The series of large and small notes appear to have been some form of calligraphic exercise. Alex Postle may be a draughtsman in the Adam Scottish Office. There are also partial sketches of a gate pier and arch.
Notes
This type of small Palladian villa is characteristic of the work of both Robert and James Adam in the early 1750s; there remain several similar designs in the Blair Adam Collection of 1752 (see BA.209-214, and J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, pl.32). In his unfinished essay on architectural theory written in Rome in 1762 James Adam wrote that 'The villa allows but of one [storey] and its attic, which is of great utility as giving lodging or bedrooms' (Fleming, op.cit., p.317).
This sheet has clearly been re-used from the Adam office scheme for Fort George, near Inverness, Scotland of 1748-58 (see Fleming, op.cit., pp.84-86).
This sheet has clearly been re-used from the Adam office scheme for Fort George, near Inverness, Scotland of 1748-58 (see Fleming, op.cit., pp.84-86).
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