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London: Parliament House (designs for). Unfinished design, probably for a relief sculpture, showing a military trophy of weapons, armour and two tall urns with handles, and a column surmounted by a seated royal figure. This ensemble is set on a dedicatory panel upon which are two seated male figures, one with legs crossed.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/104
Purpose
London: Parliament House (designs for). Unfinished design, probably for a relief sculpture, showing a military trophy of weapons, armour and two tall urns with handles, and a column surmounted by a seated royal figure. This ensemble is set on a dedicatory panel upon which are two seated male figures, one with legs crossed.
Aspect
Elevation
Scale
1 1/2 inches to 10ft
Inscribed
Lettered in pencil on dedicatory panel within composition SACRED / TO OUR VICTORYS / IN ASIA
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1762-63
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, brown wash with white heightening on grey washed paper
276 x 149
Hand
Antonio Zucchi (1726-95)
Notes
This composition is the companion to Adam vol.7/103 and they were probably each intended for a niche on either side of the main entrance of James Adam's Parliament House scheme (see Adam vol.28/2). The source of this design in the classical trophy is more obvious than in Adam vol.7/103 and its role as propaganda is made plain in the inscription on the panel, a reference to the victory by Lord Clive in India at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 (see Adam vol.7/53). Examples of classical trophies can be found in Adam vol.7/71 and in Adam volume 26, which contains James Adam's collection of drawings after the antique. Such a sculptural group was probably in James Adam's mind when he wrote in his unfinished essay on architectural theory of 1762 that ' . . . in niches are introduced statues also which, being nearer the eye, must not be very colossal. . .' (see J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.318). The two figures here are certainly in the hand of Antonio Zucchi (1726-95), although the rather tentative pencil drawing elsewhere in the composition may not be his.
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