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Capriccio showing a triumphal archway with attic storey above. To one side are two free-standing columns, one having a statue on top; another statue of a seated figure on a base is shown beside a large fragment of a frieze in the foreground.
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Reference number
Adam vol.56/116
Purpose
Capriccio showing a triumphal archway with attic storey above. To one side are two free-standing columns, one having a statue on top; another statue of a seated figure on a base is shown beside a large fragment of a frieze in the foreground.
Aspect
Perspective
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink 76; in red ink 116
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1756 or 1757.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, grey and brown washes; ink framing line225 x 178, 2 top corners trimmed, bottom left corner damaged
Hand
Robert Adam
Notes
The arch depicted here is loosely based on the Arch of Constantine in The Forum, Rome. The statue of a seated figure also appears in Adam vol.56/75 and 56/96, and more clearly in several compositions by Charles-Louis Clérisseau (see Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820) Dessins du musée de l'Ermitage Saint-Petersbourg, catalogue of an exhibition at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1995, pp.18, 143). Robert Adam's composition is simpler and lacks the figures in the Clérisseau original from which it is taken (see Hermitage 43672, Paris 1995 op.cit., fig.5).
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
In Pursuit of Antiquity: Drawings by the Giants of British Neo-Classicism, Sir John Soane's Museum, 1 February - 1 June 2008; Tchoban Foundation Museum für Architekturzeichnung, Berlin, 3 October 2015 - 14 February 2016
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