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London: Parliament House (designs for). Design for a long rectangular panel showing a regal procession with a crowned king, with crowds advancing from either end and preceded by the mace and sword of state protected by armed guards. The scene is watched by spectators, all in early seventeenth-century costume.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/26
Purpose
London: Parliament House (designs for). Design for a long rectangular panel showing a regal procession with a crowned king, with crowds advancing from either end and preceded by the mace and sword of state protected by armed guards. The scene is watched by spectators, all in early seventeenth-century costume.
Aspect
Elevation
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1762-63
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, brown wash with white heightening, partly oxidised, on brown washed paper
173 x 1276, two pieces of paper joined and with three vertical fold lines
Hand
Antonio Zucchio (attributed to)
Notes
The procession shown is presumably that for the State Opening of Parliament. The costume and mace are those found in other compositions in this set.
The set of pen and wash drawings with heightening, Adam vol.7/21-44, are all designs for the relief decoration of James Adam's Parliament House scheme of 1762/63. The predominant theme is British history and the figures are dressed in either early seventeenth-century or classical costume. The principal draughtsman was Antonio Zucchi (1726-95), although some of the figure compositions are probably the work of Agostino Scara, of whom James Adam wrote that he '... draws figures full as well as Brunias...' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.279). Adam gave great emphasis in his Parliament scheme to the role of decorative sculpture and this probably explains the survival of so much material of this sort. In his unfinished essay on architectural theory of 1762, Adam explained: 'What is meant by outside decoration is sculpture, statues and bas-reliefs, together with foliage, trophies, frets, interlacings and a thousand such ornaments which, if properly applied, give such amazing magnificence and render an ediface so wonderfully interesting...' (Fleming, op.cit., p.317).
The set of pen and wash drawings with heightening, Adam vol.7/21-44, are all designs for the relief decoration of James Adam's Parliament House scheme of 1762/63. The predominant theme is British history and the figures are dressed in either early seventeenth-century or classical costume. The principal draughtsman was Antonio Zucchi (1726-95), although some of the figure compositions are probably the work of Agostino Scara, of whom James Adam wrote that he '... draws figures full as well as Brunias...' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.279). Adam gave great emphasis in his Parliament scheme to the role of decorative sculpture and this probably explains the survival of so much material of this sort. In his unfinished essay on architectural theory of 1762, Adam explained: 'What is meant by outside decoration is sculpture, statues and bas-reliefs, together with foliage, trophies, frets, interlacings and a thousand such ornaments which, if properly applied, give such amazing magnificence and render an ediface so wonderfully interesting...' (Fleming, op.cit., p.317).
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