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Possibly unfinished record drawing of a ceiling design showing nine roundels, each containing three full-length figures, and four diamond-shaped panels without decoration. All are set within foliage and small rosettes.
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Reference number
Adam vol.26/95
Purpose
Possibly unfinished record drawing of a ceiling design showing nine roundels, each containing three full-length figures, and four diamond-shaped panels without decoration. All are set within foliage and small rosettes.
Aspect
Ceiling plan
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1760 - 63
Medium and dimensions
Pen, yellow, brown and purple washes
375 x 399
Hand
Giuseppe Manocchi
Notes
This is a similar drawing to the more complete ceiling designs in Adam vol.26/93 and 94 and like them it is in Giuseppe Manocchi (c.1731-82)'s hand. According to McCormick, 'A drawing entitled 'Bain delinié au palais des empereurs', is the original of the corresponding Soane drawing of diamonds and roundels. The copies seem flat and linear in comparison with the richly plastic Clérisseau original' (T. McCormick, Charles-Louis Clérisseau and the Genesis of Neo-Classicism, Cambridge Massachusetts and London, 1990, p.148). He also states that this composition and that in Adam vol.26/28 are 'by one of the draftsmen'. The composition is based on a ceiling from the nymphaeum complex in Nero's Domus Transitoria, Rome (see R. Ling, Roman Painting, Cambridge, 1991, p.86, pl.91).
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