Explore Collections
You are here:
CollectionsOnline
/
Unfinished academic study for the plan of a large public building composed of two connected pavilions in the centre of a court with hemicycle ends and several linked pavilions. The circular pavilion at the top has four porticoes aligned diagonally surrounding pavilions in saltire form. The lower pavilion is composed as two apses facing a rectangular hall.
Browse
Reference number
Adam vol.9/39
Purpose
Unfinished academic study for the plan of a large public building composed of two connected pavilions in the centre of a court with hemicycle ends and several linked pavilions. The circular pavilion at the top has four porticoes aligned diagonally surrounding pavilions in saltire form. The lower pavilion is composed as two apses facing a rectangular hall.
Aspect
Planverso plans
Inscribed
Inscribed in ink on drawing 39
Signed and dated
- Undated, probably 1755 or 56
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, black and red chalk247 x 183
Hand
Laurent-Benoît Dewez (attributed to)
Verso
Drawings in black and red chalk showing four unfinished plans, three elevational details, and a section of Palladian-style pavilions. These drawings are probably related to the plan on the recto.
Watermark
six-pointed star in circle
Notes
The plan - of which Adam vol.9/36 is probably a detail - can be compared with the schemes submitted for the 1732 and 1750 Concorso Clementino for a College of Arts and Sciences, which influenced the design by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in Opera Varie di Archittetura, 1750 (see P. Marconi, I disegni di architettura dell'Archivio storico dell'Accademia di San Luca, 1974, vol.I, figs.378, 461-2). The plan here is similar to Piranesi's scheme notably in the use of diagonals from a central circular pavilion aligned to larger pavilions on the periphery. The drawings on the verso are probably related to this plan. They may also be compared with the grandiose composition in Adam vol.9/53. Neither the use of red chalk nor the small scale of the draughtsmanship are typical of Robert Adam, the latter comparable to that found in Adam vol.9/4 and 5, both drawings, like this one, attributed to Laurent-Benoít Dewez (1731-1812). There is a similar composition by Dewez in the Rijksarchief, Brussels, Belgium (see Dewez 1/139).
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