Architecture.- Byres (James) Plan of a Temple, built by Cardinal Albani in his Villa near Rome, …

Architecture.- Byres (James, Scottish artist, lived mainly in Rome, Grand Tour "cicerone" and art dealer, 1734-1817) Plan of a Temple, built by Cardinal Albani in his Villa near Rome, pen and grey inks, grey wash, with scale and brown ink inscription underneath, ruled black ink border, on laid paper, sheet 730 x 490 mm (28 3/4 x 19 1/4 in), under glass, minor surface dirt, framed, [circa 1780s]; together with another sheet with side profiles of the same temple, pen and inks, watercolours washes, ruled black ink border, sheet 490 x 720 mm (19 1/4 x 28 1/4 in), under glass, some marginal repairs to tears, minor surface dirt, framed, [circa 1780s] (2) Provenance: Purchased by the present owners circa 1980s Private collection, South West England ⁂ A large and highly finished drawing of a Temple from Villa Albani, considered to be an 18th-century masterpiece. The Villa was a vast architectural complex completed in 1763 by the Italian architect, Carlo Marchionni (1702-1786), and the project was heavily influenced by Giovanni Battista Nolli, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Johann Joachim Winckelmann; the latter curating the collection of antiquities housed in the Villa. The Villa was to serve as an important source of inspiration for the neoclassical architecture of Sir John Soane and Robert Adam, both of whom visited while on Grand Tours.