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Record drawing of part of a ceiling showing a rectangular panel of several figures, above which is a swagged curtain. It is surrounded by two borders, one of putti, and other of stylised flowers.
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Reference number
Adam vol.26/93
Purpose
Record drawing of part of a ceiling showing a rectangular panel of several figures, above which is a swagged curtain. It is surrounded by two borders, one of putti, and other of stylised flowers.
Aspect
Ceiling plan
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1760 - 63
Medium and dimensions
Pen, watercolour
567 x 1045; with vertical fold line
Hand
Giuseppe Manocchi
Watermark
Trimmed remains of countermark
Notes
This drawing and its companion in Adam vol.26/94 are both watercolours that are more typical of those found in the Manocchi drawings in Adam volumes 15 and 16. This drawing differs only in detail from a watercolour amongst the drawings by Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820) in Box E in the Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia (1862) that is annotated 'Chambre de livie au palais des empereurs à Rome' (see Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820) Dessins du musée de l'Ermitage Saint-Petersbourg, catalogue of an exhibition held at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1995, p.100). According to the Hermitage catalogue, 'Il est fort probable que la source soit une planche gravée' ('it is highly likely that the source was an engraving'); the hand there is also likely to be that of Giuseppe Manocchi (c.1731-82). It is possible that this is one of the three ceilings from 'Livia's Baths' that James Adam referred to in 1762 as '... painted and so pretty and so rare that I thought I could not have them done with too much care' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh and Rome, London, 1962, p.371). There is another drawing of one of the ceilings in Adam vol.26/169.
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