Triumphal Gateway at Hyde Park Corner
Drawing
c.1775 (made)
c.1775 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Drawing comprising two sheets stuck together. The top drawing is in pen and ink and grey wash and shows a gateway in the form of a triumphal arch. A pedimented central archway is flanked by tall wings that terminate in large scale sculptures of a lion and unicorn above pedestrian arches. These arches are contained within pedimented Doric aedicules that are repeated on the pier walls that support the central road arch and here contain statues of a kind and queen set in arched niches. The whole facade is vigorously rusticated throughout. The bottom drawing is in pen and ink and shows the corresponding plan, with dimensions. The drawings are pricked for transfer and with faint pencil underdrawing and dimension
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Triumphal Gateway at Hyde Park Corner |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and grey wash on paper |
| Brief description | Architectural drawing showing a proposed triumphal gateway at Hyde Park Corner, London, designed by Robert Adam, c. 1775 |
| Physical description | Drawing comprising two sheets stuck together. The top drawing is in pen and ink and grey wash and shows a gateway in the form of a triumphal arch. A pedimented central archway is flanked by tall wings that terminate in large scale sculptures of a lion and unicorn above pedestrian arches. These arches are contained within pedimented Doric aedicules that are repeated on the pier walls that support the central road arch and here contain statues of a kind and queen set in arched niches. The whole facade is vigorously rusticated throughout. The bottom drawing is in pen and ink and shows the corresponding plan, with dimensions. The drawings are pricked for transfer and with faint pencil underdrawing and dimension |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Design |
| Marks and inscriptions |
|
| Gallery label | Office of Robert and James Adam
Design in plan and elevation for a
Triumphal Gateway at Hyde Park
Corner. About 1775
Pencil, pen and ink and watercolour
Until well into the nineteenth century Hyde
Park Corner represented the entry both into
the built-up area of London and into the royal
parks surrounding Buckingham Palace. This
drawing is for one of a number of unexecuted
Adam schemes for gateways on the site. The
final finished drawing did not use the all-over
rustication of this design, generally
considered appropriate for the fortified entry
into a city. This design shows the Adams'
ability to combine a mathematically
proportioned arrangement of solids and voids
with a free and very imaginative use of neo-
classical detail. The drawing in various tones
of grey is not intended to be deliberately dull
but to show the precision and calculation of
the design. It is very different from the more
atmospheric drawings of Chambers.
3327 |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Places depicted | |
| Bibliographic reference | Alistair Rowan, 'Robert Adam: Catalogue of Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum', V&A publications, 1988, cat. 69 and illustrated in plate 27 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 3327 |
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| Record created | July 31, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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