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Italy: Rome: unidentified location or capriccio. View or capriccio showing an obelisk with fountain at the base. Beyond this is part of a circular temple with columns opposite a series of niches with gardens above. In the foreground are part of an arch and architectural fragments.
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Reference number
Adam vol.57/125
Purpose
Italy: Rome: unidentified location or capriccio. View or capriccio showing an obelisk with fountain at the base. Beyond this is part of a circular temple with columns opposite a series of niches with gardens above. In the foreground are part of an arch and architectural fragments.
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink 125
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755 or 1756.
Medium and dimensions
Grey and brown washes; pencil framing line270 x 208
Hand
Robert Adam
Notes
This may be a view towards the Forum Boarium, Rome, showing the circular Temple of Sybil (Vesta or Portunus), now Santa Maria del Sole, of which there is a view in Adam vol.57/47. However, the obelisk with fountain immediately in front of the temple could be that of the Obelisk of Constantine in the Piazza di S. Giovanni in Laterano, which has a fountain at its base, or that at the Villa Calimontare Mattei al Celio, which had a garden setting, or that in the Piazza del Popolo, of which there is a drawing in the Clerk Collection, Scotland (Clerk 95). Piranesi's Prima Parte di Architetture, 1743, gave several examples of obelisks (see 'Forma ideale del Campidoglio Capitol', pl.VII).
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