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London: Parliament House (designs for). Design for five free-standing classical statues of military figures, two wearing helmets and three carrying batons, all on individual plinths.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/29
Purpose
London: Parliament House (designs for). Design for five free-standing classical statues of military figures, two wearing helmets and three carrying batons, all on individual plinths.
Aspect
Details
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1762-63
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, brown wash with white heightening, partly oxidised, on grey washed paper
160 x 347
Hand
Antonio Zucchi (attributed to)
Notes
The five military statues were presumably intended for the exterior of James Adam's Parliament House, probably at roof level. In his unfinished essay on architectural theory of 1762, Adam argues that '... statues placed on the pediment and other parts of such a building become colossal to be properly seen from below: and should one remedy this by forming your figures of an adequate size they then appear heavy and the comparison diminishes to the eye the size of your building...' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.318). The drawing style is not typical of the clear manner of Antonio Zucchi (1726-95) and, like Adam vol.7/31 and 33, is probably a sketch for a more formal drawing.
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, 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...' (Fleming, op.cit., 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 essay 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, 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...' (Fleming, op.cit., 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 essay 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