Robert Adam (1728-1792) - photo 1
Robert Adam (1728-1792) - photo 2

Robert Adam (1728-1792)

Lot 134
30.07.2020 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 10 625
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
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ID 381342
Lot 134 | Robert Adam (1728-1792)
Estimate value
£ 7 000 – 10 000
ADAM, Robert (1728-1792). Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia. [London]: for the author, 1764.

First edition of a magnificent architectural record of Diocletian’s Palace. Adam's work, with its elaborately engraved views, was the outcome of his visit to Spalatro (Split) during his Grand Tour and was intended to emulate the success of Robert Wood's The Ruins of Palmyra (1763). In Florence, he had met the architect Charles-Louis Clerisseau (1721-1820), who was to be Adam's instructor for the next two years and who was to supervise much of the engraving for the book in Venice and London. The engravings were probably based on drawings by Clerisseau (six of which are preserved in the Hermitage Museum), and were said by the Critical Review in October 1764 to possess ‘a taste and execution that has never been equalled in this country.’ Berlin Katalog 1893; Cicognara 3567: ‘opera magnifica e grandiosa’; Fowler 2; Harrison pp. 76-81; Millard II, 1; RIBA 27.

Folio (526 x 370mm). 61 numbered engraved plates after C.-L. Clérisseau on 54 leaves, including frontispiece, the majority by F. Bartolozzi and F. Zucchi, several double-page or folding (occasional spotting and faint waterstains, a few plates just trimmed into platemark). Contemporary russia, sides with gilt borders, edges gilt (rebacked to style).
Auction house category:Books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
09.07.2020 – 30.07.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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