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London: Parliament House (designs for). Design for the capital of a Scottish Order composed of entwined thistles on top with a mantling of acanthus leaves above a fluted column.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/163
Purpose
London: Parliament House (designs for). Design for the capital of a Scottish Order composed of entwined thistles on top with a mantling of acanthus leaves above a fluted column.
Aspect
Detail
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink in a contemporary hand Chapiteau Ecossais and J. A. Inv.t 1761[or 4]
Signed and dated
- 1761 or 4
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pencil
136 x 140
Hand
James Adam (attributed to)
Verso
Various calculations in pen in a contemporary hand.
Watermark
crowned G.R.
Notes
Although the capital design is dated 1761 or 1764, it is undoubtedly the counterpart to James Adam's British Order (see Adam vol.7/69), and like that one was intended to decorate his Parliament House scheme of 1762/63. He wrote in 1762: 'I have taken care that North Britain shall bear its own share in all decorations - so that I will venture to say that posterity would even guess at the architect's being from beyond the Tweed' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.305). The inscription and date are closer to Robert Adam's than James's hand, and the date appears to have been altered from 1764 to 1761. There is a later version of this capital in Adam vol.52/25 among a series of capitals for pilasters and columns (see particularly Adam vol.52/10-13). This Scottish theme can be found again in Robert Adam's pen sketch for a 'Hebrurian freize' of 1775 (see Adam vol.52/6).
Literature
Repr. A. A. Tait, Robert Adam, The Creative Mind: from the sketch to the finished drawing, catalogue of an exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 1996, p.26
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
Robert Adam, The Creative Mind: from the Sketch to the Finished Drawing, Sir John Soane's Museum, 4 October 1996 - 1 March 1997; The Frick Collection, New York, December 1997 - April 1998; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, May - June 1998; The Octagon Museum, Washington, July 1998 - January 1999; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, February - March 1999
The Adam Brothers in Rome: Drawings from the Grand Tour, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 25 September 2008 - 14 February 2009
The Adam Brothers in Rome: Drawings from the Grand Tour, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 25 September 2008 - 14 February 2009
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