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Capriccio showing a large ruined archway with two freestanding Doric columns and attic storey with inscribed panel. A sarcophagus is in the right foreground and on the left is a crumbling arch.
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Reference number
Adam vol.56/88
Purpose
Capriccio showing a large ruined archway with two freestanding Doric columns and attic storey with inscribed panel. A sarcophagus is in the right foreground and on the left is a crumbling arch.
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink 41; in red ink 88
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1756 or 1757.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, grey and brown washes; ink lines forming an octagonal frame173 x 176, 4 corners trimmed diagonally
Hand
Robert Adam
Notes
This drawing is part of a series that take the sarcophagus as a theme; this composition reappears, albeit on a larger scale and in a landscape setting, in Adam vol.56/93. According to Salmon, the capriccio is based on the arch depicted is the 'Arco de Pantani', and the columns frame the remains of the Forum Transitorium (see Salmon Building on Ruins; The Rediscovery of Rome and English Architecture (London, 2000), p.44, and the print by Étienne Duperac (c.1525-c.1604) in Nash Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 2 vols, 2nd ed. (London, 1968), vol.II, p.433).The framing lines show that Robert Adam explored both octagonal and circular compositions.
Literature
Rep. Salmon Building on Ruins; The Rediscovery of Rome and English Architecture (London, 2000), p.45, pl.27
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