Robert Adam & his brothers; their lives, work & influence on English architecture, decoration and furniture . Fig. 124.—The South Front of Ken Wood, Hampstead, from the Park. ment measures 36 ft. in length, but with them this dimension isincreased to about 59 ft. The width of the room is 22 ft. and itsheight to the top of the cornice 18 ft., while that to the highestpart of the segmentally curved ceiling is about 24 ft. 6 in. Thepainted ceiling panels were executed by Antonio Zucchi, and the 1 The original drawings of the Library are preserved in vol. xiv. of the Adam Seriesin the Soane Collec
Robert Adam & his brothers; their lives, work & influence on English architecture, decoration and furniture . Fig. 124.—The South Front of Ken Wood, Hampstead, from the Park. ment measures 36 ft. in length, but with them this dimension isincreased to about 59 ft. The width of the room is 22 ft. and itsheight to the top of the cornice 18 ft., while that to the highestpart of the segmentally curved ceiling is about 24 ft. 6 in. Thepainted ceiling panels were executed by Antonio Zucchi, and the 1 The original drawings of the Library are preserved in vol. xiv. of the Adam Seriesin the Soane Fig. 125. THE LIBRAE KEN WOOD, HAMPSTEAD. KEN WOOD, BOWOOD, AND LANSDOWNE HOUSE 175 stucco decoration by Joseph Rose. At the present time the ground of the ceiling is chiefly coloured pale pink, but a certain light bluish colour has been introduced around the panels, which contain paintings. The modelled enrichments have been gilded in all cases. In the Works, Adam stated his reason for adopting such treatments, in his description of Ken Wood, where we read : The grounds of the panels and friezes are coloured with light tints of pink and green, so as to take off the glare of white, so common in every ceiling till of late. This always appeared to me so cold and unfinished, that I ventured to introduce this variety of grounds, at once to relieve the ornaments, remove the crudeness of the white, and create a harmony between the ceiling and the side walls, with their hangings, pictures, and other decorations.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksub, booksubjectarchitecture
