Robert Adam Architect 1728-1792

Government House in Calcutta, today known as the Raj Bhavan of West Bengal, was built between 1799 and 1803 as the official residence for the Governor-General of Fort William, then the 1st Marquess Wellesley. It is well-established that Government House is modelled after Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, England, known for the involvement of Robert Adam in its design. A significant fact linking Adam, and therefore Kedleston, with Government House is the previously unacknowledged presence of Adam’s great-nephew, the statesman John Adam, in Calcutta at the time Government House was designed and built. In the exploration of Scottish architectural and familial networks within the British empire, this article seeks to locate the identities of Robert Adam and John Adam within a series of exchanges: between Government House and Kedleston Hall; between public buildings and private houses; between India and Britain; and finally between Scottish, English and British identities. In the context of these exchanges, the study of Government House allows us to connect Robert Adam and John Adam, explore concealments of Scottish identity, and ultimately map previously unknown familial, professional and architectural networks.

Open Access, Online: https://journals.openedition.org/abe/6193

Ultima sponda dell’idea di Occidente nell’età moderna, la Dalmazia ha ospitato due importanti artisti veneti agli esordi della loro carriera cosmopolita: alla fine del Seicento, il giovane Antonio Bellucci, che oggi conosciamo per i cicli decorativi in Austria, Germania e Inghilterra,
fu militare a Sebenico, scoprendo lì la sua vocazione d’artista; le fonti raccontano poi che a inizio Settecento Marco Ricci, rifugiatosi a Spalato dopo aver ucciso in una rissa un gondoliere, avesse imparato molto da un pittore di paesaggi, genere di cui il bellunese diverrà specialista
e innovatore.
Sarà il viaggio in Dalmazia dei fratelli Adam, architetti scozzesi, accompagnati dal collega francese Clérisseau, a far conoscere all’Europa la magnificenza dell’antico Palazzo di Diocleziano, risorta come Pompei grazie alle incisioni del volume del 1763 e rinata nel gusto Adam delle residenze inglesi di Kenwood, Osterley Park, Harewood.