Palmi Roman (approximately 3 in to 110 ft - English feet)

No 1, labelled A to P and key: A Ingressi principali / B Gran Sala d'ingresso / C Gran Galleria, ornata con Quadri Statue, Basi relièvi etc. / D Vestiboli che introducono dalle Sale d'ingresso alle Rotonde / E Rotonde scoperta al di sopra, ornate di Statue, Bassu relievi etc / F Fontane nel mezzo / G Quattro Stanze ricche per collocarvi, varie curiosità si / antiche che moderne / H Abitazioni per uso d'ufficial o ministri destinati all / custodià della fabrica / I Scale di dette abitazioni / L Site per Guarda roba / M Cortilli con Portici all' intorno ornati di Statue / N Fontana nel mezzo / O Ingressi Laterali / P Scale per ascendere a dette ingressi

• 1763

Pen and sepia wash, pencil within double ruled brown and black pen and raw umber wash border on laid paper (695 x 475)

Dance

J Whatman and fleur-de-lis in crowned cartouche and GR below

This is essentially an H-plan with the cross-bar containing the 'Gran Galleria', flanked either side by a cortile with a fountain, and linking the front and back wings, which are identical in plan and accommodation. These wings consist of a square, central entrance all approached by wide stairs and an eight-column colonnade. Either side of the entrance halls are apsidally ended vestibules that lead to top-lit rotundas, each with a central fountain, and a concluding rectangular gallery. Dance's planning is symmetrically organised around the two key lateral axes of the enfilade arrangement of rooms in a variety of shapes (and heights) either side of the entrance hall, and the grand central axis of the great gallery with minor longitudinal axes on each side.

[SM D4/11/5] is laid out so that the H-plan is on its side with the cross-bar vertical (that is parallel with the sides of the sheet); [SM D4/11/3] is the same as Soane's copy for his Royal Academy Lectures. The plan remaining in Parma (Accademia di Belle Arti, reproduced in D. Stillman, English Neo-classical architecture, vol.II, 1988, fig.10) is titled and lettered so that the H-plan clearly reads as such, as does [SM D4/11/1]. This means that the entrances are shown on each side rather than conventionally at the bottom (and top) of the sheet, and the dramatic length of the great gallery with its twin entrance halls is made less significant. REPRODUCED. R. Middleton, 'The Sculpture Gallery at Newby Hall', AA Files, 1986, XIII, fig.11.

Drawing

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

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