Inscribed in black chalk in a later hand Piranesi

• Undated, possibly l1755

Red chalk, pen 535 x 750

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

crowned fleur de lys

In 1755, Robert Adam wrote that Piranesi (1720-78) '... is just now doing two drawings for me which will be both singular and clever...' (J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.167). This drawing and that at Adam vol.56/146 have been presumed to be they. It is dated by Wilton-Ely to either 1755 (see J. Wilton-Ely, The Mind and Art of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, London, 1978, p.167), or to 'c.late 1740s' (see J. Wilson-Ely, Piranesi, Paestum & Soane, London, 2001, pp.8, 63). However, if this drawing belonged to James rather than Robert Adam, then this is unlikely to be one of the two drawings referred to by Robert Adam. It is also surprising that Piranesi would have made a presentation drawing that is obviously unfinished. The subject-matter of funerary monuments can clearly be related to Piranesi's Le Antichità Romane, 1756, where volume two dealt with Sepolchri Antichi to which this drawing may be related. There is another, earlier composition in the Opere Varie, 1750, and a similar drawing in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK. Robert Adam's name appeared in the dedicatory plate (second state) of volume two of Le Antichità Romane, and the Campus Martius, 1762, was dedicated to him. James Adam dealt with the negotiations about this and according to him, Piranesi '... hinted at a dedication to me ...' in July 1761 (see Fleming, op.cit., p.374).
There is a discussion of the comparative pictorial material in Wilton-Ely, 2001, op.cit. (see pp.62-63).

Repr. M. Richardson, ed., Soane: Connoisseur & Collector, catalogue of an exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, London, London, 1995, pl.19; D. Stillman, 'Robert Adam and Piranesi' in Essays in the History of Architecture Presented to Rudolf Wittkower, London, 1967, pl.XXI/2; J. Wilton-Ely, Piranesi as Architect and Designer, London, 1993, p.23.

Drawing

Soane: Connoisseur & Collector, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 6 April - 2 September 1995; The Frick Collection, New York, 30 April - 7 July 1996
In Pursuit of Antiquity: Drawings by the Giants of British Neo-Classicism, Sir John Soane's Museum, 1 February - 1 June 2008; Tchoban Foundation Museum für Architekturzeichnung, Berlin, 3 October 2015 - 14 February 2016
The Adam Brothers in Rome: Drawings from the Grand Tour, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 25 September 2008 - 14 February 2009
Piranesi's Paestum: Master Drawings Uncovered, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 15 February - 18 May 2013; Tchoban Foundation Museum für Architekturzeichnung, Berlin, 1 June - 31 August 2013; The Morgan Library and Museum, New York, 23 January - 17 May 2015; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, 19 August 2015 - 6 January 2016

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