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Robert Adam by James Tassie (medallion) Robert Adam FRSE FRS FSAScot FSA FRSA (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on ...
Robert Adam (1728 – 92) was one of the most important British architects working in the Neoclassical style – a movement in the decorative and visual arts that drew inspiration from the 'classical' art and culture of Ancient Greece and Rome. Born in Kirkaldy, Scotland, Robert Adam was the son of the established architect William Adam (1689 ...
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Robert Adam (born July 3, 1728, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scot.—died March 3, 1792, London, Eng.) was a Scottish architect and designer who, with his brother James (1730–94), transformed Palladian Neoclassicism in England into the airy, light, elegant style that bears their name. His major architectural works include public buildings (especially in London),...
Robert was the second son of William Adam, the foremost Scottish architect of his time. William, who as master mason to the Board of Ordnance in North Britain supervised the design of military buildings, also designed numerous country houses in a conservative Palladian style—the modified classic Roman style that was originally developed by the 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio. The Adam children grew up in the cultured atmosphere of a propertied and well-connected 18th-century family. Shortly after Robert’s birth the family moved to Edinburgh, where at the age of six he entered the Edinburgh High School. In 1743 he enrolled at Town’s College (now University of Edinburgh), but in 1745 he abandoned his studies and the following year entered his father’s office as an apprentice and assistant.
William Adam died in 1748, and his Board of Ordnance post passed to his eldest son, John, who took Robert into partnership. In the succeeding few years both benefited from the lucrative contracts that resulted from the appointment. Besides building Fort George in the Moray Firth near Inverness, the Adam brothers also were engaged to complete the interior of the earl of Hopetoun’s house. In their interiors the brothers introduced into Scotland a new, lighter, almost Rococo style of decoration. The other important private commission of these years was Dumfries House, Ayrshire, for the earl of Dumfries.
In 1754 Robert Adam, who by then considered himself to be worth £5,000, was invited to accompany the Honourable Charles Hope, the earl of Hopetoun’s younger brother, to Italy. He thus had the opportunity to realize the dream he had been saving for since his father’s death, and, just as important, he had the social advantages of traveling with the brother of an earl. He was as much concerned with meeting young noblemen abroad as with acquiring more architectural knowledge from a study of the monuments of Roman antiquity. The letters he wrote to his family during his years abroad show Adam to be a madly ambitious young man, an arrogant social climber, and yet still a dedicated artist.
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He met Hope in Brussels, and they proceeded to Paris, where Adam fitted himself out in the latest fashions and set out to “lay in a stock of good acquaintance that may be of use to me hereafter.” After fewer than three weeks in Paris, they set off for Italy via the south of France, visiting en route the ancient Roman sites of Arles, Nîmes, the Pont du Gard, and Montpellier. They reached Genoa early in January 1755 and proceeded to Florence via Livorno. Arriving at the end of the month, they were immediately caught up in the social whirl for which Adam had hoped.
While in Florence, Adam met a man who was to have an important professional influence upon him. This was the talented young French architect and draftsman Charles-Louis Clérisseau, who agreed to accompany him as instructor and draftsman on the tour. Clérisseau had been a student at the French Academy in Rome, but he left in 1754 after a dispute with its director. As a result of his friendship with Clérisseau, Adam came into contact with avant-garde architectural theory in Rome. He wrote:
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Robert Adam. The North Side of Edinburgh's Charlotte Square. Robert Adam lived from 3 July 1728 to 3 March 1792. He was the most famous of the Adam family of architects, which also included his father William Adam and his brothers James Adam and John Adam. Robert Adam made his name in the related fields of architect, interior design and ...
Robert Adam FRIAS (born 1948) is a Driehaus Architecture Prize winning British architect, urban designer and author, known for championing classical and traditional styles. Adam is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde and Design Council Expert. [2][3][4][5][6][7][1] His career was the subject of Richard John's Robert Adam and ...
South front of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, England; designed by Robert Adam (1757–59) and built in 1760–70. The south front of Kedleston Hall (1757–59) provides an example of Adam’s exterior treatment. His theme of a triumphal arch as the exterior expression of the domed interior hall is the first use of this particular Roman form in ...
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Robert Adam (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of ...
