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Capriccio of a three-bay towered structure with giant pilasters with niches, with a relief panels on one bay. The building is supported by a substructure of vaults and arches. In the foreground are classical fragments.
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Reference number
Adam vol.57/127
Purpose
Capriccio of a three-bay towered structure with giant pilasters with niches, with a relief panels on one bay. The building is supported by a substructure of vaults and arches. In the foreground are classical fragments.
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink 127
Signed and dated
- Undated, possibly September 1755.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen; grey, blue and brown washes253 x 305
Hand
Robert Adam
Watermark
grapes
Notes
This view by Robert Adam is the same as that by Charles-Louis Clérisseau in Adam vol.57/123, although it lacks the fortified scene in the background. Like that of Clérisseau, Adam's view is probably derived from several antique sources, and it may relate to Adam and Clérisseau's trip to Albano in September 1755. It may have been inspired by ruins of mausolea such as that then known as the Tempio della Salute or Tomb of Licinianus Piso on the Via Appia, which is illustrated in Piranesi's Vedute di Roma, 1763. An alternative source may be the Domus Praeconum on the Via dei Cerchi of the Domus Augustiana (see E. Nash, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London, 1968, vol.I, p.338). The sculptural relief panel shown here is absent in Clérisseau's view and in the Domus Augustiana.
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