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Italy: Mergellina: 'Virgil's tomb'. View of the so-called tomb of Virgil in its landscape setting outside Naples, with Posillipo in the distance.
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Reference number
Adam vol.57/16
Purpose
Italy: Mergellina: 'Virgil's tomb'. View of the so-called tomb of Virgil in its landscape setting outside Naples, with Posillipo in the distance.
Aspect
Perspectiveverso sketches of arcitectural details
Inscribed
Inscribed in pencil in a contemporary hand Tombeau de Vergile; in ink 16.
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755.
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pencil, grey and brown washes198 x 304
Hand
Charles-Louis Clérisseau
Verso
Pencil sketch of profile of an architectural moulding, with dimensions.
Notes
Virgil's ashes were placed in a tomb outside Naples on the Via Pluteolana, originally between the first and second milestones. The tomb subsequently disappeared and in 1554 the following inscription was placed there: 'Qui cineres? tumuli haec vestigia: conditur olim/ Ille hic qui cecinit pascua, rura, duces'. Robert Adam's drawing in Adam vol.57/21 is taken from the same spot as this drawing by Charles-Louis Clérisseau but lacks the depth given by the latter's introduction of the distant view over Posillipo; there are also adjustments of scale and detail. In Paoli, Avanzi Delle Antichita Esistenti a Pozzuoli Cuma e Baja, Naples, 1768, pl.X shows a plan and interior view of the tomb by Natali that is contemporary with this drawing and that in Adam vol.57/21, which serves to show the various adjustments made by both Clérisseau and Adam where they have strengthened the architectural form of the mausoleum. In April 1755 Adam noted that 'It [the tomb] is now almost quite ruinous and is only beautiful from its antiquity', which may explain his architectural adjustments (National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, Clerk of Penicuik Collection, GD18/4769). A print of a similar view by Domenico Cunego after Clérisseau was issued in London in 1766.
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
The Adam Brothers in Rome: Drawings from the Grand Tour, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 25 September 2008 - 14 February 2009
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