Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
Italy: Pozzuoli: Arco Felice. View of the ruined Arco Felice, which shows the vaulting of an aqueduct above a pathway.
Browse
Reference number
Adam vol.57/32
Purpose
Italy: Pozzuoli: Arco Felice. View of the ruined Arco Felice, which shows the vaulting of an aqueduct above a pathway.
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink 32
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, grey and brown washes235 x 271
Hand
Robert Adam
Notes
This drawing is Robert Adam's version of the Arco Felice; Charles-Louis Clérisseau's version of the same view is found in Adam vol.57/31. The principal differences between the two drawings are in the handling of the superstructure and in the scale of the composition. This is the case with their respective works throughout the Neapolitan tour, where Adam's drawings are both more accurate and and also simplified in their treatment of detail, but duller and somewhat empty in compositional terms. This is very clear if a comparison is made with the drawing of their near contemporary Giovanni Battista Natali (1698-1765) in Paoli, Avanzi Delle Antichita Esistenti a Pozzuoli Cuma e Baja, Naples, 1768, pl.XLV.This view was probably drawn when Adam visited Cuma after 8 April 1755; he wrote from the town that 'there are many temples & other antiquities' (National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, Clerk of Penicuik Collection, GD18/4796).
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