University of Virginia Library

3. Adam, Robert.

RVINS OF THE PALACE / OF THE EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN /
AT SPALATRO IN DALMATIA / BY R. ADAM F.R.S. F.S.A. /

Plate I. From No. 2. Title page. Copy originally owned by Jefferson.

ARCHITECT TO THE KING / AND TO THE QUEEN /
PRINTED FOR A. MILLAR / MDCCLXIIII

Folio. Title page ([i]); dedication ([iii]-iv); list of subscribers (4
leaves); introduction ([1]-4); text ([5]-17); explanation of plates
([19]-33); 60 engraved plates, of which 11 are folding (Plate I of a total
of 61 plates is missing).

The engravers for this notable work were Francesco Bartolozzi (1725 or
1727-1813 or 1815), a Florentine who came to England just in time to
work on the book and who went to Lisbon in 1802 to become director of
the National Academy there; James Basire (1730-1802), who had studied
with Dalton and in Rome, and who became both the father and
grandfather of engravers also named James Basire; Domenico Cunego
(1727-94), Italian, who, though a painter, distinguished himself as an
engraver; Peter Mazell (fl.1761-97), English; F. Patton (fl.1754-64),
English; Edward Rooker (ca. 1712-74), English, who worked on several
architectural books, particularly for Chambers and Stuart as well as
Adam; P. Santini; Anthony Walker (1726-65), one of a family of Scottish
engravers who settled in London, Anthony studying at St. Martin's
Lane Academy and working largely for Boydell; and Zucchi, a member
of an Italian family of engravers which originated in Venice, flourished
during both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and worked in
many Italian and foreign centers.

The professionals among the subscribers include four architects,
three booksellers, two carpenters, a carver, the Clerk of the Signet, fourteen
doctors, eight ecclesiastics, an engineer, two merchants, six painters,
two printers, and two statuaries. Charles-Louis Clérisseau, Adam's assistant;
Adam's three brothers, John, James, and William; Giovanni
Battista Piranesi; James Dawkins; Thomas Whatley; and Joshua Kirby,
the "Designer in Perspective to his Majesty," all appear on the list. But
also included is a "Major General Julius Caesar"!

Robert Adam (1728-92) was not only an architect himself but the
son of the architect William Adam and the brother of the architects
John, James, and William Adam. Educated at the University of Edinburgh,
he went to Italy in 1754. On his return to England he was appointed
architect to the king and queen and in 1762 became both F.R.S.
and F.S.A.

He describes in his introduction his entourage for his investigations
at Spalatro, the modern Split: "Having prevailed on Mr. Clerisseau, a
French artist, from whose taste and knowledge of antiquities I was certain
of receiving great assistance in the execution of my scheme, to accompany
me in this expedition, and having engaged two draughtsmen,

of whose skill and accuracy I had long experience, we set sail from Venice
on the 11th of July, 1757, and on the 22nd of that month arrived at
Spalatro" (p. 2). There is a figure of one of the draughtsmen at work in
his Plate XXXIII, the "View of the Inside of the Temple of Jupiter"
(see Plate II).

He also gives a description of his methods of work at the palace:
"By good fortune its remains are, in many places, so intire, as to be able
to fix, with the utmost certainty, the form and dimensions of the principal
apartments. The knowledge of these, leads to the discovery of the
corresponding parts; and the descriptions given us by Pliny and Vitruvius[3]
of the Roman villas, enable us to assign each apartment its proper
name, and to discover its use" (p. 7). This literary method was followed
by other authors, notably by the two preceding and Robert Castell (No.
21).

The DNB article on Adam says that the Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian
was published "because of its residential character, classical architecture
being studied in England exclusively from the remains of
public buildings." That this was a desirable procedure is corroborated
by Adam when he says:

The Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian has also been called "a work
of incalculable importance in the development of the European neoclassical
movement."[4]

Although Jefferson himself did not own a copy of this book, he may
very well have known it from the time of his stay in France where he,
too, worked with Charles-Louis Clérisseau (No. 29). In any case Adam's
"General Plan of the Palace restored" (see Plate III) would have been
to his liking with its many octagonal forms.

Jefferson ordered the Spalatro for the University in the section on
"Architecture" of the want list, but there is no record of its having been

Plate II. From No. 3. "View of the Inside of the Temple of Jupiter" in Diocletian's
Palace (Pl. XXXIII).

Plate III. From No. 3. "General Plan of the Palace [of Diocletian] Restored" (Pl. VI).

received during his lifetime. The library's present copy was acquired
during this century.

U. Va.

*NA320.A3.1764