ADAM, Robert (1728-1792). Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia . [London:] for the author, 1764. 2° (516 x 366mm). 61 numbered engraved plates on 54 leaves, 6 folding and 8 double-page, by F. Bartolozzi, E. Rooker, F. Patton, P. Santini, A. Walker, D. Cunego, J. Bassire and Antonio Zucchi (Slight browning along joins of folding plates.) Contemporary mottled calf, covers with single fillet, gilt-tooled spine with red morocco lettering-piece (rubbed and scuffed at extremities). Provenance : The Earl of Chichester (armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION in internally fine condition. Adam's most important collaborator in the production of this glamorous work was C.-L. Clérisseau (1721-1820), his drawing master, who was responsible for both the perspective views and for directing work on engraving the plates in Venice between 1757 and 1760. The response of Adam and Clérisseau to the antique is fittingly described by Eileen Harris as '"pseudo-archaeological" in that it treated the physical remains of antiquity as touchstones for the imaginative and scenic, as opposed to deductive and architectonic, recreation of ancient buildings ... between them Adam and Clérisseau took every opportunity to charge the archaeological and geometrical data contained in the plates of Spalatro with an emotive, picturesque energy" ( British Architectural Books , 1990, p. 78). Fowler 2; Berlin Katalog 1893; Brunet I, 46; Cicognara 3567.
ADAM, Robert (1728-1792). Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia . [London:] for the author, 1764. 2° (516 x 366mm). 61 numbered engraved plates on 54 leaves, 6 folding and 8 double-page, by F. Bartolozzi, E. Rooker, F. Patton, P. Santini, A. Walker, D. Cunego, J. Bassire and Antonio Zucchi (Slight browning along joins of folding plates.) Contemporary mottled calf, covers with single fillet, gilt-tooled spine with red morocco lettering-piece (rubbed and scuffed at extremities). Provenance : The Earl of Chichester (armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION in internally fine condition. Adam's most important collaborator in the production of this glamorous work was C.-L. Clérisseau (1721-1820), his drawing master, who was responsible for both the perspective views and for directing work on engraving the plates in Venice between 1757 and 1760. The response of Adam and Clérisseau to the antique is fittingly described by Eileen Harris as '"pseudo-archaeological" in that it treated the physical remains of antiquity as touchstones for the imaginative and scenic, as opposed to deductive and architectonic, recreation of ancient buildings ... between them Adam and Clérisseau took every opportunity to charge the archaeological and geometrical data contained in the plates of Spalatro with an emotive, picturesque energy" ( British Architectural Books , 1990, p. 78). Fowler 2; Berlin Katalog 1893; Brunet I, 46; Cicognara 3567.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
