Scale
(details) Scala di Piedi (1 in to 1 ft approximately) and Scala di Palmi Romani
Inscribed
Inscribed as above, Prospetto per di Dentro o Vero Spaccato di Detto Palazzo, B Modine della Cornice Principale Architravata, Assieme / con il Capitello che Resta per di Fuori e Ricorre per / di Dentro ne Cortile, C Porta Disegnata in Grande che Resta sotto li / Portici nel Piano Terreno con suo Modine, e / Dimostratione dell Ricorso della Cornice che / Forma Inposta al Archi & Di Modine una delle Porte che Restano al / Piano delle Loggie nel Piano Nobile
Signed and dated
Medium and dimensions
Black and brown pen and sepia wash, shaded, within single ruled border and on laid paper (490 x 760)
Hand
unidentified Italian architect
Watermark
encircled fleur-de-lis
Notes
The drawing shows a three storey-building of 21 bays with single-storey wings at each end on a curved plan. The seven bays either side of the centre are shown in section, the centre seven bays in elevation. The palazzo is crowned by a balustrade with 14 sculpted figures; eight more stand on each curved wing, and 18 smaller ones front the second floor of the centre. That there was no particular patron is suggested by the details of an entablature (labelled B) with a mannered Ionic angular capital with the French crowned lion's mask, and a festoon above a Farnese fleur-de-lis; and half-elevational details of a triangular and a segmental pediment with carved sopraporte that includes (labelled C) a festoon and putto head and wings and (labelled D) a military trophy including a flag with the French fleur-de-lis. The sculpted figures include angels proferring a papal crown.
In the foreground is a frieze-like composition of vignettes including farm labourers and a horse and cart; a sedan chair carried by two porters; and a group of soldiers with lances, shields and a horse.
Level
Drawing
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
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