Academic study for the plan for part of a symmetrical city with a harbour and lazaretto below, with a central axis running to the top of a hemicycle of noblemen's houses. On either side are more buildings and public gardens.

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Robert and James Adam travel drawings
- Adam Volume 9

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Reference number

Adam vol.9/60

Purpose

Academic study for the plan for part of a symmetrical city with a harbour and lazaretto below, with a central axis running to the top of a hemicycle of noblemen's houses. On either side are more buildings and public gardens.

Aspect

Planverso elevation

Inscribed

Inscribed in ink on drawing 60; inscribed in ink in contemporary hand (on left hand side of drawing): A Place pour les/ Maisons de la Noblesse/ B. Maisons des/ Bourgeoises/C. Petit Basin a un/ Cote' La Bourse, a/ l'autre le Marche/ publique./ D. Grand Basin tout/ autours des Magasin/ des Marchants/ EE Les faubourgs dans/ lequels sont tous/ Les Metiers qui/ sont dangeruise [?] dedans/ une Ville, (continues on right hand side of drawing) F. Salle de Comedie/ G Salle de la Musique/ H. Les Eglise/ I Douan/ K Salle de Marchand [?]. Lettered in ink within the plan: Jardin Publique [in 2 places]; Grand Basin; Lazaretto; La Mer and Fort[?]

Signed and dated

Undated, probably c1756

Medium and dimensions

Pen107 x 232, particularly torn right hand edge

Hand

Laurent-Benoît Dewez (attributed to)

Verso

Unfinished capriccio in pencil showing a three-bay elevation with dome and flanking single-bay wings. Beside this are details of balustrades. This scheme may be compared with that in Adam vol.9/45 verso.

Notes

This plan is the counterpart of the bird's-eye perspective in Adam vol.9/56 and like that drawing, it is associated with the Robert Adam scheme of 1756 for rebuilding central Lisbon, Portugal, destroyed in the fire and earthquake of 1755 (see K. Maxwell, Pombal, Paradox of the Enlightenment, Cambridge, 1995, and A. A. Tait, Robert Adam: drawings and imagination, Cambridge, 1993, pp.43-44). The hierarchical nature of the composition may be compared with Adam vol.9/61, also possibly to the scheme in 9/45, and more generally to the idealised schemes of the Concorso Clementino, especially the citta in mezzo al mare of 1732 (see P. Marconi, Disegni di architettura dell'Archivio storico dell'Accademia di San Luca, 1974, vol.I, figs.377-408 and 438-52).

Literature

Rep. A. A. Tait, Robert Adam: drawings and imagination, Cambridge, 1993, p.43, fig.35.

Level

Drawing

Exhibition history

Robert Adam, The Creative Mind: from the Sketch to the Finished Drawing, Sir John Soane's Museum, 4 October 1996 - 1 March 1997; The Frick Collection, New York, December 1997 - April 1998; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, May - June 1998; The Octagon Museum, Washington, July 1998 - January 1999; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, February - March 1999

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