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Possibly unfinished record drawing of part of a frieze or capital, carved with alternating dolphins and oak leaf vegetation.
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Reference number
Adam vol.26/71
Purpose
Possibly unfinished record drawing of part of a frieze or capital, carved with alternating dolphins and oak leaf vegetation.
Aspect
Elevation
Inscribed
Inscribed in chalk L
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1760 - 63
Medium and dimensions
Black chalk
137 x 347
Hand
Nicolas-François-David Lhuiller (attributed to)
Watermark
coat of arms [part]
Notes
The inscribed 'L' would seem to confirm this as a drawing by Nicolas-François-David Lhuiller (d.1793), as would the drawing technique and hatching. There is a similar composition in red and black chalk among drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, which is seen as a preparatory study for the etching of a capital in Piranesi's Della Magnificenza ed Architettura de'Romani, 1761. The source for the Piranesi study was given as 'In cavo aedium Farnesianarum' (see F. Stampfle, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1978, pl.21, p.xxiii). There is another pencil study very close to the centre part (see Stampfle, op.cit., pl.42, p.xxix); see also G.L. Taylor & E. Cresy, The Architectural Antiquities of Rome, 2 vols., London, 1821, (vol.I, p.44) where it is described as being from the forum of Nerva.
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