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You are here: CollectionsOnline  /  Capriccio showing a sarcophagus re-used as the basin of a fountain set among ruins. In the foreground is water and in the distance a triumphal arch.
  • image Adam vol.56/103

Reference number

Adam vol.56/103

Purpose

Capriccio showing a sarcophagus re-used as the basin of a fountain set among ruins. In the foreground is water and in the distance a triumphal arch.

Aspect

Perspective

Inscribed

Inscribed in ink 62; in red ink on drawing and album leaf 103

Signed and dated

  • Undated, probably 1756 or 1757.

Medium and dimensions

Pencil, pen, blue, brown and grey washes; remnant of ink framing line at bottom180 x 237, 4 corners trimmed diagonally

Hand

Robert Adam

Notes

The triumphal arch depicted here resembles The Arch of Septimus Severus, Rome but the rest of the composition has no topographical basis in The Forum buildings. A fountain incorporating a re-used sarcophagus as its water basin also appears in many drawings (for example, Adam vol.56/94 and 56/97).

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