Lot Essay
One of Robert Adam's most magnificent sets of designs was for the remodelled Derby House in Grosvenor Square, demolished in 1862. He was commissioned by Lord Edward Smith-Stanley (1752-1834), who was to succeed his grandfather as the 12th Earl of Derby in 1776. Work seems to have begun in 1773, but the hall ceiling is dated 15 April 1774, only a month before Lord Stanley married Lady Elizabeth Hamilton; drawings for the scheme are dated 1773 and 1774. However, by 30 April 1773, work was sufficiently far advanced for Horace Walpole to report, in a letter to the Countess of Upper Ossory, on a magnificent reception that filled five rooms on the first floor and six on the ground floor (see A.T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1922, II, p.65). Walpole's description included the Third Drawing Room, where the doors 'were heightened with candles in gilt vases' (later, on 8 August 1777, he was to describe 'l'Hotel de Derby' as 'filigreed into puerility'; see Bolton, op.cit., p.67).
Adam himself wrote of his Third and Great Withdrawing Room: 'The ornaments of the ceiling and entablature are chiefly stucco, gilt, with a mixture of paintings. The frames for glasses, the pedestals and vases in the niches, and the girandoles on the piers, are of wood gilt. This room is hung with satin, and is undoubtedly one of the most elegant in Europe, whether we consider the variety of the richness or the decoration' (R. and J. Adam, The Works in Architecture, II, 1779, part 1 at pl.5).
Unfortunately, the house was demolished in 1862 but certain features seem to have been reinstated elsewhere, such as the fireplace, now in the English Speaking Union. This can be seen in the present drawing and was the subject of a separate design by Adam inscribed 'Design for a Chimney Piece for the Great Dining Room at Lord Stanleys/in Grosvenor Square. Statuary Marble inlaid with Scagliola, Ornaments and Figures The Mouldings in Or.Moulu' - which gives some idea of the richness of the designs.
Adam sees to have taken particular care over the depiction of the Third Drawing Room at Derby House when he came to illustrate it in Works in Architecture, where it stands out, together with the 'Inside View of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane', as one of his supreme achievements. To this end Adam may well have used his best draughtsman and colourist Joseph Bonomi (1739-1808), who had arrived in England from Rome in 1767 and worked in the Adam brothers' office until 1781. However, the room is shown empty, unfurnished, perhaps as it was at the time of the party in April 1773.
We are grateful to John Harris and Peter Meadows for their help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Adam himself wrote of his Third and Great Withdrawing Room: 'The ornaments of the ceiling and entablature are chiefly stucco, gilt, with a mixture of paintings. The frames for glasses, the pedestals and vases in the niches, and the girandoles on the piers, are of wood gilt. This room is hung with satin, and is undoubtedly one of the most elegant in Europe, whether we consider the variety of the richness or the decoration' (R. and J. Adam, The Works in Architecture, II, 1779, part 1 at pl.5).
Unfortunately, the house was demolished in 1862 but certain features seem to have been reinstated elsewhere, such as the fireplace, now in the English Speaking Union. This can be seen in the present drawing and was the subject of a separate design by Adam inscribed 'Design for a Chimney Piece for the Great Dining Room at Lord Stanleys/in Grosvenor Square. Statuary Marble inlaid with Scagliola, Ornaments and Figures The Mouldings in Or.Moulu' - which gives some idea of the richness of the designs.
Adam sees to have taken particular care over the depiction of the Third Drawing Room at Derby House when he came to illustrate it in Works in Architecture, where it stands out, together with the 'Inside View of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane', as one of his supreme achievements. To this end Adam may well have used his best draughtsman and colourist Joseph Bonomi (1739-1808), who had arrived in England from Rome in 1767 and worked in the Adam brothers' office until 1781. However, the room is shown empty, unfurnished, perhaps as it was at the time of the party in April 1773.
We are grateful to John Harris and Peter Meadows for their help in preparing this catalogue entry.