Two sheets in the collection, with views of the Venetian Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi and the gallery of the Palazzo Spada in Rome, can be attributed to the architect and draughtsman Antonio Adami, who was probably from Venice. Adami's life and work has not yet been sufficiently researched. His drawings with views, floor plans or sections of well-known buildings in Rome, England and the Veneto are mainly found in British collections and were often erroneously attributed to the Venetian artist Antonio Visentini (1688-1782). It is likely that Adami was Visentini's pupil or collaborator when he was commissioned by the English patron Joseph Smith (1674/1682?-1770), who was consul in Venice. Thus the view of the Venetian Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi undoubtedly belongs to the collection of the "Admiranda Urbis Venetae", a three-volume documentation of Venetian architecture initiated by Smith and directed by Visentini.
The façade of the palazzo on the banks of the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio sestiere, designed by Mauro Codussi (c. 1440-1504) and built between 1481 and 1509, is still one of the most famous in Venice and was also highly appreciated around 1750 as an example of exemplary Renaissance façade architecture. Adami took over the plain but very finely differentiated monochrome style of representation with pen and brush from Visentini. It corresponded to the desire to reproduce the architectural quality of the buildings depicted in a rationally perceivable aesthetic. It also reflects an anti-baroque attitude, which was particularly evident in England's marked preference for Andrea Palladio's architecture at the time. Like Visentini, Adami knew how to adapt to this English fashion and made his drawings especially for the English clientele. A number of his drawings listed in the catalogue of the collection of the merchant and art collector Charles Rogers (1711-1784), which was dissolved in 1799, as well as the sheets from his hand scattered in other European collections are evidence that Adami was able to gain a respectable reputation as an architectural draughtsman, obviously thanks to Visentini and Smith's support.
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