The Etruscan dressing room was Lady Stanley's dressing room, and it was located on the first storey of the house, in the middle of the rear wing, above the library, and between the great drawing room and the bedchamber. A plan of the house can be found in the second volume of The works in architecture of Robert and James Adam (part 1, plate 1).

This was the first room in which Adam installed Etruscan themed interior decoration, although it is worthy of note that the design for this ceiling is almost identical to the central portion of an earlier dining room ceiling which Adam designed for 19 Grosvenor Square. The Etruscan dressing room ceiling is included in the second volume of the Works (part 1, plate 7), and is illustrated in accordance with this drawing. Adam's preface to this plate reads:

Ceiling, in the Etruscan Taste, exected in the Countess of Derby's Dressing-room. The ornaments are partly stucco, and partly in painting, in the colouring of the Etruscans.

Here it is suggested that the ceiling - in both Adam's drawing and the Works - is shown as executed. However, from observation of the rare coloured volumes of the Works, it is apparent that the executed ceiling made use of an alternative colour scheme to that shown in the drawing. The ceiling was lost when the house was demolished in 1862.

Group

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