File:Robert Adam and his brothers - their lives, work and influence on English architecture, decoration and furniture (1915) (14578216959).jpg

Identifier: robertadamhisbr00swar (find matches)
Title: Robert Adam & his brothers : their lives, work & influence on English architecture, decoration and furniture
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Swarbrick, John, b. 1879
Subjects: Adam, Robert, 1728-1792 Adam, James, d. 1794 Architecture
Publisher: London : B.T. Batsford
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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the brothers contrived tomake themselves familiar with the architecture and other artistic workof Roman and Renaissance periods, to a degree that few earlierarchitects had been able to do. The sources of influence that aretraceable in their work were largely, if not mainly, to be found inRoman remains and in the decorative work of the Cinquecento period,as in Fig. 17 ; yet they were proud to acknowledge the assistance thatthev derived in various wavs from the knowledge of French work, whichthey had doubtless acquired, knowing that it was requisite that theyshould be intimately informed of the requirements and fashions ofpolite, .social life in France. In this respect, it is interesting to note howclosely the period of Louis XVI. synchronised with that during whichthe brothers practised in their severe style. It should not be imaginedthat they were, however, entirely neglectful of the traditions in whichhey had been trained. From their younger days, when their father. INTRODUCTORY NOTE
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Fig. 17.—Adam Arabesque Ornament: Ceiling, Back Drawing-Room,Lansdowne House. (See Fig. 134.)4 -6 THE LIVES AND WORK OF ROBERT AND JA:\IES ADAM William Adam, a strict Palladian, collected the plates for his XitruviusScoticus, they are sure to have been familiar with Campbells• Xitruvius Britannicus, the work that suggested the preparation ofa similar compilation restricted to Scottish architecture. From their Works and other sources it is evident that the buildings of Englisharchitects were well known to them, and particularly those of InigoJones, Wren, and \anbrugh : but it was to the works of Vanbrughthat they made special reference, ami in their own way expressed theiradmiration of the qualities to which Sir Joshua Reynolds also alludedin his subsequent discourse. Unlike Stuart, the brothers could notrender their whole allegiance to the Greek architecture of Athens, for,though they too were archaeologists, their judgment only caused themto feel that Greek treatments suggested a

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