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Ruins, c. 1802-04 (5)

There are no (surviving) working drawings for the ruins at Pitzhanger, probably because they were always more of an aesthetic whim on Soane’s part. This group of drawings forms the earliest representation of the ruins and also shows Soane’s earlier personal perspective of them, before the failure of his familial hopes.

Soane was evidently greatly influenced by Piranesi’s engravings of Roman ruins. Indeed, he had many such engravings already in his collection by 1800. The Picturesque and Romantic nature of ruins can hardly have escaped him, but his primary motivation for constructing ‘ancient’ ruins in the grounds of his country house must have been for the entertainment of his guests and possibly for his own amusement at his guests’ reaction to them. As part of the reconstruction process, the solution that Soane proposed (described in a letter in James Spiller’s hand, 1802 - SM archives 7/G/4) was a ruin complex based around the form of the Temple of Clitumnus at Spoleto, which had a raised first floor door from which priests could preach. This explained the incongruous heights of the temple entrance and the triumphal arch.

Soane’s description of Pitzhanger in his 1833 Memoirs clarifies the purpose of the ruins: ‘One of my objects [in creating the ruins] was to ridicule those fanciful architects and antiquaries, who, finding a few pieces of columns, and sometimes only a few single stones, proceeded from these slender data to imagine magnificent buildings...’. Ultimately, Soane’s ruins had a picturesque value, an entertainment purpose and were an ancient reference point for his own architecture, but they were also a means of ridicule.

Matilda Burn 2010
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