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Capriccio showing the interior of a large building with coffered ceiling supported by free-standing columns, with the walls containing niches and relief panels. At one end is a screen of five bays.
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Reference number
Adam vol.56/131
Purpose
Capriccio showing the interior of a large building with coffered ceiling supported by free-standing columns, with the walls containing niches and relief panels. At one end is a screen of five bays.
Aspect
Perspectiveverso Plan
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink 94; in red ink 131.
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1756 or 1757.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, brown and grey washes; ink framing line270 x 302, 4 corners trimmed diagonally
Hand
Robert Adam
Verso
Unfinished pencil capriccio showing the plan for a large building, which may be related to the drawing on the recto.
Watermark
Part of fleur de lys
Notes
Although arranged in the album among capricci of ruins, the composition here is the first of an intermittent sequence of capricci of interiors of complete buildings, such as the compositions in Adam vol.56/132, 136, 138, 142 and 145. The vaulted hall in this drawing is comparable with a similar hall in an unfinished pencil drawing in Adam vol.55/118. Although this drawing is a capriccio, Robert Adam may have been inspired by Santa Maria degli Angeli by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700-1773), which he knew and drew (see Fleming Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome (London, 1962), p.352; also Clerk Collection, Scotland, Clerk 3 & 5).
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