Italy: Rome, the Vatican. Record drawing for the decoration of a pilaster with four relief panels. At the base, above a decorated plinth, two figures are seated holding vine branches, which support an open rotunda of columns surmounted by a swan and fantastic animals.

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Robert and James Adam travel drawings
- Adam Volume 26

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Reference number

Adam vol.26/201

Purpose

Italy: Rome, the Vatican. Record drawing for the decoration of a pilaster with four relief panels. At the base, above a decorated plinth, two figures are seated holding vine branches, which support an open rotunda of columns surmounted by a swan and fantastic animals.

Aspect

Elevation

Signed and dated

Undated, probably 1760 - 1763

Medium and dimensions

Pencil, pen, watercolour 1243 x 224, three joined sheets and joining strip

Hand

Giuseppe Manocchi (attributed to)

Notes

This drawing, together with those in Adam vol.26/186, 191-201 is part of a group attributed to Giuseppe Manocchi (c.1731-82), showing decoration of the Vatican logge. This is a study of pilaster 13 and corresponds fairly accurately to the print by Ottaviani (see below), although it lacks the border he illustrates. The subjects of the four relief panels also confirm to those identified by Dacros: siren, knight, Pan and a nymph, masculine head (see N. Dacros, Le Logge di Raffaello, Rome, 1986, p.278).
The decoration of the Vatican logge appeared as engravings between 1772 - 1777 in three parts: Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano (1772), Seconda Parte delle Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano (1776) and Terza ed Ultima Parte delle Logge di Rafaele nel Vaticano (1777). Work on the project of recording was begun in 1760 and was more or less completed by 1768. The principal artists involved were the painter Gaetano Savorelli (d.1791) and the architect Pietro Camporesi (1726-81), and the engraver was Giovanni Ottaviani (1735-1808). The third volume was engraved by Giovanni Volpato (1733-1803), after drawings by Ludovico Tesio (1731-82).

Level

Drawing

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