Drawing
1763-1773 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
This drawing was prepared for publication as an engraving. It was reproduced exactly in The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume III, plate II, published in 1822, some 30 years after Adam's death. However, neither the draughtsman's nor the engraver's names are recorded.
Places
This illustration of the gallery at Syon House illustrates what is regarded as the essential Adam style. It is delicate, yet so decorated that few surfaces are left unadorned. Individual elements of the decoration, such as the plasterwork panels, and the figure medallions and ribbon bands on the ceiling, are all derived from a Classical tradition. It was this sort of architectural design that the Adam brothers described when they wrote in their introduction to volume I of The Works in Architecture (1773) of their 'beautiful variety of light mouldings, gracefully formed and delicately enriched'.
People
Syon House, just to the west of London, was an earlier house remodelled by Robert Adam (1728-1792) for Hugh Smithson, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1714-1786) in 1762. Northumberland's illegitimate son James Smithson wrote (in 1826) in his will that if his heirs should be without issue, his estate should be bequeathed to the USA, to set up the Smithsonian Institute. James died in 1829; his heir died childless in 1835.
This drawing was prepared for publication as an engraving. It was reproduced exactly in The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume III, plate II, published in 1822, some 30 years after Adam's death. However, neither the draughtsman's nor the engraver's names are recorded.
Places
This illustration of the gallery at Syon House illustrates what is regarded as the essential Adam style. It is delicate, yet so decorated that few surfaces are left unadorned. Individual elements of the decoration, such as the plasterwork panels, and the figure medallions and ribbon bands on the ceiling, are all derived from a Classical tradition. It was this sort of architectural design that the Adam brothers described when they wrote in their introduction to volume I of The Works in Architecture (1773) of their 'beautiful variety of light mouldings, gracefully formed and delicately enriched'.
People
Syon House, just to the west of London, was an earlier house remodelled by Robert Adam (1728-1792) for Hugh Smithson, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1714-1786) in 1762. Northumberland's illegitimate son James Smithson wrote (in 1826) in his will that if his heirs should be without issue, his estate should be bequeathed to the USA, to set up the Smithsonian Institute. James died in 1829; his heir died childless in 1835.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Drawing of a view of the Gallery, or Library, Syon House |
| Gallery label | British Galleries:
Syon House, just to the west of London,was an earlier house remodelled by Robert Adam for Hugh Smithson, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1714-1786). The Elizabethan long gallery became this Neo-classical gallery or library. Its decoration was typical of Adam's style. The walls, floor and ceiling were covered with a dense pattern of small-scale motifs based on ancient Roman ornament.(27/03/2003) |
| Object history | Drawn in London by an unidentified draughtsman after a design by Robert Adam (born in 1728 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, died in London, 1792) Engraved and published in the ' Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam', vol. III, 1773 |
| Summary | Object Type This drawing was prepared for publication as an engraving. It was reproduced exactly in The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume III, plate II, published in 1822, some 30 years after Adam's death. However, neither the draughtsman's nor the engraver's names are recorded. Places This illustration of the gallery at Syon House illustrates what is regarded as the essential Adam style. It is delicate, yet so decorated that few surfaces are left unadorned. Individual elements of the decoration, such as the plasterwork panels, and the figure medallions and ribbon bands on the ceiling, are all derived from a Classical tradition. It was this sort of architectural design that the Adam brothers described when they wrote in their introduction to volume I of The Works in Architecture (1773) of their 'beautiful variety of light mouldings, gracefully formed and delicately enriched'. People Syon House, just to the west of London, was an earlier house remodelled by Robert Adam (1728-1792) for Hugh Smithson, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1714-1786) in 1762. Northumberland's illegitimate son James Smithson wrote (in 1826) in his will that if his heirs should be without issue, his estate should be bequeathed to the USA, to set up the Smithsonian Institute. James died in 1829; his heir died childless in 1835. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1063-1940 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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