Ruins of the Forum in Rome by Charles-Louis Clérisseau
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Ruins of the Forum in Rome by Charles-Louis Clérisseau
About the Item
The following year, while in Florence on his return to France, Clérisseau met Robert Adam, the Scottish architect, who was traveling to Rome. Recognizing the French artist’s ability to draw “ruins in Architecture to perfection,” Adam persuaded Clérisseau to travel with him, to act as antiquarian and as instructor in architectural theory and drawing, and to make drawings of architectural ruins. For his part, Adam paid for all of the expenses of travel, and, in the fall of 1755, the two departed for Herculaneum, on the first of their extensive travels through Italy. Two years later, they traveled to Spalato on the Dalmatian coast to document the ruins of the Diocletian’s Palace. The result of this expedition was Adam’s "The Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro," an early archeological work, which had a decisive influence on the development of the Neoclassical style of architecture in Britain. By 1764, when the book was published, Adam had tried to minimize Clérisseau’s role, as illustrator of the volume by omitting the latter’s name on all but a few drawings. In fact, so insecure was the ambitious Adam of Clérisseau’s talent that an annual salary of one hundred British Pounds was paid to the French artist to remain in Italy until the reputation of Adam brothers could be firmly established. In 1768, Clérisseau returned to Paris with a cache of his architectural works, which immediately established his reputation in the French capital, and he was soon elected to the Académie Royale as a peintre d’architecture.
This watercolor view of the Roman Forum, dating from 1756 just after Clérisseau’s return to Rome from Herculaneum, is one of the artist’s largest known works. Several other examples of this type of watercolor exist, including many in the Hermitage, which is the single greatest repository of Clérisseau’s work (see Musée du Louvre, Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820), Dessins du musée de l’Ermitage, Saint-Pétersbourg, Paris, 1995). Catherine the Great of Russia, who invited him to St. Petersburg to design a maison antique at Tsarkoe Selo, purchased over one thousand of the artist’s drawings, watercolors and gouaches in 1779. Clérisseau’s grand palace for the Empress, however, was never built.
- Dimensions:Width: 31.5 in (80.01 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:Mid-eighteenth century
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: EMD 351stDibs: U081118854339
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