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Unfinished view showing groups of figures, a sedan chair, and a carriage with two horses, in front of and admiring a large building of seven bays.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/98
Purpose
Unfinished view showing groups of figures, a sedan chair, and a carriage with two horses, in front of and admiring a large building of seven bays.
Aspect
Perspective
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1762-63
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, brown wash
179 x 758, two sheets jopined and with two vertical fold lines
Hand
Antonio Zucchi
Notes
The figures here were intended to give scale and depth to the building that is shown behind in diagrammatic form, and which is possibly the elevation of James Adam's Parliament House (see Adam vol.7/78) or his royal theatre (see Adam vol.7/170). The foreground figures are in the hand of Antonio Zucchi (1726-95), and the building behind was possibly intended to be drawn in a more architectural style, perhaps by George Richardson (d. c.1813). The direct source may be the drawings of the Trevi Fountain in Rome (see Adam vol.56/55-57).
Such a composition is typical of the later perspectives of Robert Adam, but can be seen as early as 1760 in his Admiralty Screen, separating Admiralty House from Whitehall, London (see Ministry of Defence Art Collection, London, MOD11110).
Such a composition is typical of the later perspectives of Robert Adam, but can be seen as early as 1760 in his Admiralty Screen, separating Admiralty House from Whitehall, London (see Ministry of Defence Art Collection, London, MOD11110).
Literature
Repr. J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.314 (detail of sedan chair)
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