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Designs for the great drawing room walls, 1773, as executed (1)
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Purpose
Designs for the great drawing room walls, 1773, as executed (1)
Notes
Two of the walls of the great drawing room are included in the second volume of The works in architecture of Robert and James Adam (part 1, plate 5), with the unusual combination of Doric pilasters and Ionic columns, and with mirrored recesses being reminiscent of the library at Kenwood. The chimney wall is illustrated in accordance with Adam's laid out wall elevations, but the end wall differs. In the Works, the end wall is open and screened by columns, giving a view into the neighbouring Etruscan dressing room. This was pure artistic licence which facilitated the illustration of a further room. Adam's preface to this plate reads:
Inside View of the Third and Great Withdrawing-room. The ornaments of the cieling and entablature are chiefly of stucco gilt, with a mixture of paintings. The grounds are coloured with various tints. The frames for glasses, the pedestals and vases in the niches, and the girandoles on the piers, are of wood gilt. This room is hung with satin, and is undoubtedly one of the most elegant rooms in Europe, whether we consider the variety or the richness of its decoration.
Here it is suggested that the walls of the room are shown as executed, although we know that the end wall was altered for the publication. Adam's laid out wall elevations are closest to the executed scheme, although the room was lost when the house was demolished in 1862.
Inside View of the Third and Great Withdrawing-room. The ornaments of the cieling and entablature are chiefly of stucco gilt, with a mixture of paintings. The grounds are coloured with various tints. The frames for glasses, the pedestals and vases in the niches, and the girandoles on the piers, are of wood gilt. This room is hung with satin, and is undoubtedly one of the most elegant rooms in Europe, whether we consider the variety or the richness of its decoration.
Here it is suggested that the walls of the room are shown as executed, although we know that the end wall was altered for the publication. Adam's laid out wall elevations are closest to the executed scheme, although the room was lost when the house was demolished in 1862.
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Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
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