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Competition design for a public gallery awarded the Gold Medal of the Parma Academy in 1763, copies 1763-c.1765 and 1794 or later
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Reference number
SM D4/11/1
Purpose
Competition design for a public gallery awarded the Gold Medal of the Parma Academy in 1763, copies 1763-c.1765 and 1794 or later
Aspect
[3] Ground floor plan, A Section thro' the Halls of entrance etc and Rotundas and Section thro' the Great Gallery
Scale
A Scale of English feet (2 1/4 in to 100 ft approximately)
Inscribed
Inscribed as above, labelled A to M and key: A Hall of entrance / B Great Gallery / C Vestibules wch lead / from the Halls of entrance / to the Rotunda / D Rotundas for Statues / Lighted from the top / E Fountains in / the middle of / the said Rotundas / F Four Halls / for Busts, Medals / etc / G Apartments for / proper Officers / necessary for the preservation of / the Buildings / H Doric Porticos / in the Facade / I Fountains in / the middle of the / Cortiles / K Cortiles surroun - / ded with Colonades / ornamented wth / Statues etc / L Side entrances / M Principal en- / - trances and some dimensions given
Signed: George Dance
(Verso)
Letter from Dance to his father, Rome, 7 June 1763 (in large, clear handwriting)
Hond Sir
The enclos'd is a sketch of the Public Gallery for Statues Pictures etc wch subject was / given last year by the Royal Academy of Parma for the concurrence in Architecture. / as I was willing to do something to distinguish myself before I left Italy I thought / there could not be a better opportunity than that which offer'd itself at Parma. I therefore / applied myself wth all assiduity & sent my drawings to Parma last April where / together with many others from all parts of Italy, they were expos'd in a public hall / for some time 'till the final judgement, wch was at length determin'd in my favor, & / I have gained the Premium which is a Gold Medal of two ounces & a half weight.
You will perhaps wonder I shou'd rathr concur at Parma than at Rome. / to which I reply that in Rome. ^ the judgement is so partial and protections of Cardinals / Princes etc are of such consequence that in reality little honour is to be gain'd by / it. likewise no person can concur who is not in Rome at the time of concurrence, / consequently the number of those who concur must necessarily be less in Rome / than in Parma where all Italy nay all Europe may concur.
I have not yet rec'd the Medal wch is to be sent to me at the same time that the / decision of the Academy is printed which I shall send you as soon as it comes to / Rome. as to the sketch on the other side of the Paper, I beg you will excuse the / incorrectness of it, as I had scarce time to finish it for this Post, it is only just / to give you an idea of the general disposition. I had not time to put any / more than two Sections & the Plan the Drawings I sent to Parma were / five in number viz. 1 the great Plan, 2 the Section lengthwise thro' the great / Gallery B and Halls of entrance A. 3 the Section thro' the said Gallery breadth - / - wise & thro the Cortiles mark'd I in the plan. 4 the Section thro the Rotundas D. / 5 and the Facade. the Plan was Drawn upon four sheets of large imperial paper / & the Sections & Front were uponifive sheets lengthwise of the same paper each.
All the Columns within the Gallery were of the Corinthian Order, those / of the Cortiles Ionic & those of The Facades Doric. This work Dear Sir / has been my occupation for these 8 months pass'd and I hope will in some / measure plead my excuse for not writing. my mind has been in such agitation / that I confess that I have pass'd whole nights without sleeping; at length I am at / ease & never felt truer pleasure that I do at present, as I hope this will convince / you that you have not mispent your favours on one who is entirely un- / - worthy of them. this has hitherto been my greatest ambition & will always / be the bent of my wishes.
I am Honour'd Sir Your most / Oblig'd & most Obedient Son / George Dance / Rome June the 7th 1763 and we are both in perfect health and / desire to ^be remembered Affectionately to all Friends.
Signed and dated
- 1763
Rome 1763 and (verso) June the 7th 1763
Medium and dimensions
Black and brown pen, sepia, raw umber and blue washes, pencil on laid paper, folded five times for posting (415 x 310)
Hand
Dance
Watermark
fleur-de-lis in crowned cartouche and DVG below and IV
Notes
The plan, though less detailed, corresponds to [SM D4/11/6] except, for example, in the arrangement of the minor service stairs. The cross-section also corresponds although the dome roof has a double (instead of a single) stepped profile and the roof truss has more ties.
REPRODUCED. M. Richardson & M. Stevens (eds), John Soane Architect: master of space and light, catalogue of an exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1999, p.84.
REPRODUCED. M. Richardson & M. Stevens (eds), John Soane Architect: master of space and light, catalogue of an exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1999, p.84.
Level
Drawing
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk
Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.
Browse (via the vertical menu to the left) and search results for Drawings include a mixture of Concise catalogue records – drawn from an outline list of the collection – and fuller records where drawings have been catalogued in more detail (an ongoing process).