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Design for a fountain showing a base of banded masonary with three niches with sculpture above a heavily decorated basin and support, surmounted by a female figure with the attributes of Neptune. Above are details of an urn with a jet and an unfinished sketch of a basin.
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Reference number
Adam vol.7/109
Purpose
Design for a fountain showing a base of banded masonary with three niches with sculpture above a heavily decorated basin and support, surmounted by a female figure with the attributes of Neptune. Above are details of an urn with a jet and an unfinished sketch of a basin.
Aspect
Plan, elevations and details
Scale
2 scales 7/8 inch to 5 ft and 1 1/8 inches to 5 ft
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1760s
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, grey wash
283 x 423
Hand
James Adam, Office of
Notes
This fountain design is sixteenth-century in style and can be compared with the fountains of Ammanati in the gardens of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy which James Adam saw in 1760. There is a pencil sketch for this design in Adam vol.7/210 and a similar urn detail in Adam vol.7/108, which suggests the drawings may have been made at around the same time. There is no immediate connection between either design and James Adam's Parliament House scheme of 1762/63, although fountains were both intended and designed (see J. Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome, London, 1962, p.305).
Robert Adam admired and made drawings of the sixteenth-century fountains at the Villa Lante, Bagnaia (see Clerk Collection, Scotland, Clerk 174-6 and Fleming, op.cit., p.232). James Adam described the fountain in the Villa Petraia in Florence as 'fanciful', although 'Clérisseau made a sketch of it' (see J. Swarbrick, Robert Adam & His Brothers, London, 1915, p.125).
Robert Adam admired and made drawings of the sixteenth-century fountains at the Villa Lante, Bagnaia (see Clerk Collection, Scotland, Clerk 174-6 and Fleming, op.cit., p.232). James Adam described the fountain in the Villa Petraia in Florence as 'fanciful', although 'Clérisseau made a sketch of it' (see J. Swarbrick, Robert Adam & His Brothers, London, 1915, p.125).
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