Robert Adam, attributed to George Willison, c. 1770-1775. National Portrait Gallery.
Born July 3, 1728, Scottish architect, decorator and furniture designer Robert Adam was one of the most influential craftsmen of the 18th century, and so it is to him we dedicate today’s blog on what would be his 281st birthday!
Adam’s career began in 1748 when he and his elder brother John took over the family construction business upon the death of their father. After several lucrative years, Adam left for Rome to embark on the fashionable Grand Tour. He traveled throughout Italy and France between 1754 and 1758 under the tutelage of French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi and, with these two gentlemen as mentors and companions, began to develop what would become a new style based on classical antiquity observed in these formative years abroad.