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  • image Adam vol.26/99

Reference number

Adam vol.26/99

Purpose

Record drawing of a rectangular panel with a symmetrical composition in relief showing cornucopias with foliage and rosettes on either side terminating in an urn.

Aspect

Elevation

Signed and dated

  • Undated, probably 1760 - 63

Medium and dimensions

Pen, pencil, brown wash on pale brown washed paper; ink framing lines 193 x 645

Hand

Giuseppe Manocchi (attributed to)

Notes

Both this drawing and that in Adam vol.26/98 may be in the style of the antique rather than a copy of an antique fragment. They are attributed to Guiseppe Manocchi (c.1731-82) on the strength of his signed and dated compositions in Adam vol.19/98 and 99. They can also be compared with compositions by Antonio Zucchi (1726-95) in Adam volume 7 that are related to James Adam's Parliament House scheme of 1762/63. As the drawing belongs to Adam's period in Rome, the attribution by Fleming to Agostino Brunias is unlikely since he worked with Robert Adam in Rome and then returned with him to London in 1758 (see J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, caption to pl.49). There is a similar but smaller composition of the central section, probably by Manocchi, in the RIBA Drawings Collection (see T. McCormick, Charles-Louis Clérisseau and the Genesis of Neo-Classicism, Cambridge Massachusetts and London, 1990, fig.126; and J. Lever, ed. Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institite of British Architects, L-N, London, 1973, p.63).

Literature

Repr. J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, pl.49.

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