Ruins of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia

Author

Adam, Robert, 1728-1792

Date

• 1764

Publisher

[London]: Printed for the author

Summary

• "Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia" (1764) is the first publication of Robert Adam, the celebrated eighteenth century architect and designer. Adam, an influential proponent of Neoclassicism, was inspired by works of classical architecture during his 1754-7 Grand Tour. His travels included a 5-week sojourn in Spalatro (now Split in Croatia) where he visited and studied the palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, built around AD 300. By publishing this volume documenting the palace, Adam demonstrated to the public his knowledge of antique monuments and his consequent preparedness to design commissions in the classical style. This book is an impressively large folio volume. It contains a short text explanation and 61 numbered and additional unnumbered engraved plates, some of which are two or three joined pages. For our online facsimile, we did not scan blank pages; feel free to contact us for pagination information if needed. The 1764 original edition from which this digitization was made (UW-Madison, Memorial Library Special Collections, WIR AD12 Cutter Flat) is lacking four illustration plates. Scanned Plates III, VI, VII, and XXVII are made available through the courtesy of the University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware. Digital images of these four plates were taken from their copy of the same title and edition.