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Capriccio showing an irregular, towered building on a rocky hill above a road, along which a goatherd, dog and goats are going, towards a cascade edged with trees. In the distance are mountains.
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Reference number
Adam vol.56/12
Purpose
Capriccio showing an irregular, towered building on a rocky hill above a road, along which a goatherd, dog and goats are going, towards a cascade edged with trees. In the distance are mountains.
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in red ink 12
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1750s.
Medium and dimensions
Red chalk; pencil framing line300 x 413
Hand
Robert Adam
Watermark
fleur de lys
Notes
This drawing by Robert Adam is copied from a print by François Vivares that was published by Knapton and Pond in 1742, a copy of whose prints was in the library at Blair Adam (see A. A. Tait, Robert Adam: drawing and imagination, Cambridge, 1993, p.10). The source for the Vivares print was La Cascade by Gaspar Dughet (1615-1675), now in The Hermitage, but at Houghton Hall from 1740-79 (see M-N. Boisclair, Gaspard Dughet, Paris, 1986, pp.261, 349). There is another copy after Dughet from Pond and Knapton in Adam vol.56/23. The use of red chalk is found in Paul Sandby's Scottish work, and he may have introduced Adam both to this medium and to compositions of this type by Marco Ricci (1676-1730) (see A. P. Oppé, The Drawings of Paul and Thomas Sandby at Windsor Castle, London, 1962, p.15).
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