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Record drawing of part of a ceiling showing a pattern of rectangular borders with geometric and fretwork decoration.
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Reference number
Adam vol.26/133
Purpose
Record drawing of part of a ceiling showing a pattern of rectangular borders with geometric and fretwork decoration.
Aspect
Ceiling plan
Scale
1 3/8 inches to 1 foot
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink in a contemporary hand Scalla di Piedi Inglesi
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1760 - 1763
Medium and dimensions
Pen, brown wash, pencil; ink framing line
382 x 522
Hand
Giuseppe Manocchi (attributed to)
Watermark
fleur de lys in two circles
Notes
It is probable that the ceiling here is from Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Italy. The subject and inscription make an attribution to Giuseppe Manocchi (c.1731-82) likely. There is another study of the top right panels in Adam vol.26/137, also attributed to Manocchi, and other studies of the fretwork panels and shell-pattern borders in Adam vol.26/143. The composition is a reduced version of the Giovanni Battista Piranesi illustration in Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi, etc. (Rome, 1778), as from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, but then in the Casi di Campagna del Sig. Conte Fede. There are similar designs among the Manocchi drawings in Adam volumes 15 and 16. The scale in English feet in ink in an Italian hand indicates that the drawing was intended for the English market in Rome.
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