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Capriccio showing the interior of a large barrel-vaulted and coffered hall with three-bay screens alternating with niches leading to a hemicycle at the end. At floor level, a series of steps lead to a circular fountain and basin and sculptures of seated figures.
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Reference number
Adam vol.56/132
Purpose
Capriccio showing the interior of a large barrel-vaulted and coffered hall with three-bay screens alternating with niches leading to a hemicycle at the end. At floor level, a series of steps lead to a circular fountain and basin and sculptures of seated figures.
Aspect
Perspectiveverso Plan
Inscribed
Inscribed inink 95; in red ink 132.
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1756 or 1757.
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, brown and grey washes; ink framing line290 x 325, corners torn except in bottom right
Hand
Robert Adam
Verso
Unfinished pencil capriccio showing a plan.
Notes
A similar composition with steps descending to a basin is found in a pen sketch by Robert Adam in Adam vol.55/79. It can also be compared with a similar interior by Charles-Louis Clérisseau among those in The Hermitage, which is identified as a studio copy (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, p.152, pl.67). Fleming dates this drawing 1756-57 (see Fleming op. cit. 1962, caption to pl.71).
Literature
Rep. Fleming Robert Adam and His Circle in Edinburgh & Rome (John Murray, London, 1962 repr.1978), pl.71
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