Talk: Architectural drawings in context – Robert Adam and his work at Painshill

Architectural drawings in context: Robert Adam and his work at Painshill by Frances Sands 

Robert and James Adam were the leading British architects during the second half of the eighteenth century. Working in the newly fashionable neoclassical style, the brothers became the most fashionable and influential architects of their generation. Between 1759 and 1794, their architectural office made designs for over 500 different projects (including the Temple of Bacchus at Painshill), producing reams of drawings for each scheme. Alas their success was marred by one significant failure, that of the Adelphi in London, which left the Adam family with major debts. As such, following Robert and James’s deaths, the family sold the brothers’ office drawings collection to the London-based collector, Sir John Soane, who after a long and distinguished career as an architect and teacher, left his home and collection to the British nation. For nearly 200 years the 9,000-strong Adam drawings collection has lain, largely undisturbed, at the Soane Museum. Therefore, the majority of the drawings are in excellent condition, and they remain the single most important source for the study of Robert and James Adam.

Frances Sands is the Curator of Drawings and Books at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, where she has worked since 2010. She is responsible for Soane’s collection of 30,000 drawings and 7,000 books, as well as the Museum’s research library and drawings cataloguing projects. Her research interests lie in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British architectural drawings. She has written various exhibitions and publishes and lectures widely.

Location: The Abercorn Room at Painshill

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