An Architectural Capriccio
Charles-Louis Clerisseau (Paris 1721/22 - Auteuil 1820)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1764 (signed and dated)
Materials
Watercolour and gouache on paper
Measurements
740 x 588 mm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 267147
Summary
Watercolour and gouache, An Architectural Capriccio by Charles-Louis Clerisseau (Paris 1721/2 - Auteuil 1820), signed and dated, lower left: Clerisseau 1764. The present gouache is an example of Clérisseau's 'vedute di fantasia', an imaginary view composed of a ruined arched building, a pedimented marble doorcase, and various antique architectural and sculptural elements such as a fluted Corinthian column and bas-relief panel. Clérisseau was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist. A leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins, he was one of the key creators of the late eighteenth-century Neo-classical style, inspiring the architecture of Robert Adam and Sir William Chambers.
Provenance
Sotheby's,16 July 1958; where purchased by Colnaghis; purchased by Brinsley Ford 28 July 1958; and by descent to Augustine Ford. Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Augustine Ford and allocated to the National Trust for Osterley, 2023.
Makers and roles
Charles-Louis Clerisseau (Paris 1721/22 - Auteuil 1820), artist
References
France in the 18th century, Royal Academy, London, 1968, 156 The Age of Neo-Classicism, Agnew's London with the Arts Council, 1972, 1052 McCormick 1990 Thomas J. McCormick, Charles-Louis Clérisseau and the Genesis of Neoclassicism, Cambridge and London: MIT Press/The Architectural History Foundation, 1990, pp.120,122, repr fig. 98, 222, 257 n.88 Ford 1998 Brinsley Ford, John Ingamells, Francis Russell, John Christian, Nicholas Penny, Jennifer Montagu, Howard Coutts, Timothy Wilson & Dudley Dodd, The Ford Collection – II, Walpole Society, Vol. 60, 1998, pp. 91-376, RBF165 Garnett 2015: Oliver Garnett, At Home with Art Treasures from the Ford Collection at Basildon Park, National Trust, 2015, p. 21