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The Adam style (or Adamesque) is a style of neoclassical
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
 architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
 and design as practised by Scottish
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 architect Robert Adam
Robert Adam

Robert Adam was a Scotland neoclassicism architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him....
 (1728- 1792) and his brothers. A book of engraved designs made the "Adam" repertory available throughout Europe. A parallel development of this early phase of neoclassical design is French "Louis XVI style.

Robert Adam's main rivals were James Wyatt
James Wyatt

James Wyatt Royal Academy , was an England architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the Gothic revival....
, whose many designs for furniture were less known outside the wide circle of his patrons, because he never published a book of engravings, and Sir William Chambers
William Chambers (architect)

Sir William Chambers was a Scotland architect, born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant. Between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making several voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration....
, who designed fewer furnishings for his interiors, preferring to work with able cabinet-makers like John Linnell
John Linnell

John Sidney Linnell , musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants. In addition to singing and songwriting, he plays accordion, Baritone saxophone and bass saxophone, clarinet, and Keyboard instrument for the group....
, Thomas Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale was a London cabinet-maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, Rococo, and Neoclassical architecture styles. He went to London in 1749 where, in 1754, he became the first cabinet-maker to publish a book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director. Three editions were published, the firs...
 and Ince and Mayhew.






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The Adam style (or Adamesque) is a style of neoclassical
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
 architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
 and design as practised by Scottish
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 architect Robert Adam
Robert Adam

Robert Adam was a Scotland neoclassicism architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him....
 (1728- 1792) and his brothers. A book of engraved designs made the "Adam" repertory available throughout Europe. A parallel development of this early phase of neoclassical design is French "Louis XVI style.

Robert Adam's main rivals were James Wyatt
James Wyatt

James Wyatt Royal Academy , was an England architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the Gothic revival....
, whose many designs for furniture were less known outside the wide circle of his patrons, because he never published a book of engravings, and Sir William Chambers
William Chambers (architect)

Sir William Chambers was a Scotland architect, born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant. Between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making several voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration....
, who designed fewer furnishings for his interiors, preferring to work with able cabinet-makers like John Linnell
John Linnell

John Sidney Linnell , musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants. In addition to singing and songwriting, he plays accordion, Baritone saxophone and bass saxophone, clarinet, and Keyboard instrument for the group....
, Thomas Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale

Thomas Chippendale was a London cabinet-maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, Rococo, and Neoclassical architecture styles. He went to London in 1749 where, in 1754, he became the first cabinet-maker to publish a book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director. Three editions were published, the firs...
 and Ince and Mayhew. So many able designers were working in this style in London from ca. 1770, that the style is currently more usually termed Early Neoclassical.

Adamosterleypark
It is typical of Adam style to combine decorative neo-Gothic details into the classical framework. So-called "Egyptian" and "Etruscan" design motifs were minor features.

The "Adam style" is identified with:
  • Roman
    Roman architecture

    The Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external Greek Architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architecture style....
     style decorative motifs such as framed medallions, vases, urns and tripods, arabesque vine scrolls, sphinx
    Sphinx

    A sphinx is a zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head. It has its origins in sculpted figures of Old Kingdom Ancient Egypt, to which the ancient Greeks applied their own name for a female monster, the "strangler", an archaic figure of Greek mythology....
    es and gryphon
    Gryphon

    Gryphon may refer to:* Griffin, a legendary creature with the head, talons, and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.* Gryphon , a geological formation....
    s.
  • Flat grotesque panels
  • Pilasters
  • Painted ornaments such as swags and ribbons
  • Complex color schemes


The Adam style found its niche from the late 1760s in upper-class residences in 18th century England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 where it was introduced by Scottish architect Charles Cameron
Charles Cameron (architect)

Charles Cameron was a Scotland architect who introduced the Adam style into Russian architecture.Little is known of Cameron's early life in Europe, except for the fact that he studied in Italy and France....
, and post-Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , also known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Thirteen Colonies on the North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers....
 United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 (where it became known as Federal style and took on a variation of its own). The style was superseded from the end of the 1780s by a more massive and self-consciously archeological style, connected with the First French Empire
First French Empire

The Empire of the French , also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France in France....
.

A revived "Adams" style, initiated by a spectacular marquetry cabinet by Wright & Mansfield exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1867, competed with revived Sheraton
Sheraton Style

Sheraton is a late 18th century Neoclassicism English furniture style, in vogue ca 1785 - 1800, that was coined by 19th century collectors and dealers to credit furniture designer Thomas Sheraton, born in Stockton-on-Tees, England in 1751 and whose books, "The Cabinet Dictionary" of engraved designs and the "Cabinet Maker's & Upholstere...
 and Hepplewhite styles that lost momentum after World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.

See also

  • House of Dun
    House of Dun

    House of Dun, together with the adjacent Montrose Basin nature reserve, is a National Trust for Scotland property in Angus, Scotland.The Dun Estate was home to the Erskine family from 1375 until 1980....


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