(14-15) bar scale of ¼ inch to 1 foot

14-15 The Bank of England, Section of the Bank Stock Office and (14) some dimensions given

• (14-15) datable to March 1792

(14) Pen, pencil, pale red ink, sepia and pale blue washes. partly pricked for transfer on wove paper with one fold mark (519 x 593) (15) pen, pale red ink and sepia wash on wove paper with one fold mark (530 x 640)

Soane office

Drawing 14 shows the dimensions and structure of the hall as realised, as well as the idea of banded wall rustication and fluted pilasters. However, in the built version, the square wall panels were enlarged into rectangles, the fluting extended all the way down the pilasters, the pilaster caps reduced, the garlands in the lantern roof omitted, and the shape of the lunette and lantern lights modified, as was the shape of the lantern roof itself, as seen in drawing 15.
Drawing 15 also accurately shows most of the decorative scheme of the east wall and north and south arms as executed, including the structure of the lantern with its vertical stiles buttressing iron arch braces. However, the design shows only small square panels inset into the wall's banded rustication, whereas the final version raised and enlarged these panels to create a totally separate upper zone. Also, the radiating fan-lights of the clerestory windows were replaced by two tiers of arched lights, and the oval lights in the lantern were made rectangular. There are also some very faint, miscellaneous pencil sketches in the margins.
On drawing 14 very lightly sketched in the spandrel of the side arches are serpentine motifs and in the central pendentives appear fluting (neither motif realised). However, on the verso of drawing 14, sketched lightly in pencil, is an outlined transverse section of the hall showing the general shape as executed and with roundels in the pendentives, similar to the lion's-mask and rosette paterae eventually realised. Along with the fan-light lunettes, these elements relate to drawings 7 and 9, and thus probably date this drawing to c. March1792.
Similarly the clerestory fan-lights and preliminary wall ornamentation relate drawing 15 to drawings 7-8 and 9, suggesting a date of c. March 1792

(15) J. Summerson, 'The evolution of Soane's Bank Stock Office in the Bank of England', The unromantic castle, 1990, p. 155, ill. 134

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

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