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Newgate Gaol, Newgate Street, City of London, 1768-c.1813
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Reference number
SM D4/4/16
Purpose
Newgate Gaol, Newgate Street, City of London, 1768-c.1813
Aspect
[24] Bird's-eye perspective from W
Scale
to a scale
Signed and dated
- 1768-c.1813
Medium and dimensions
Pen, sepia, green earth, raw umber and blue washes, shaded, within single ruled border on laid paper (360 x 745)
Hand
office
Notes
Carefully drawn using a watercolour technique for the masonry and sky, this aerial perspective shows the building as it was finally executed with, for example, the Keeper's House fronted by a single rather than the earlier double stair. Statues were seen within the four aedicules of the west front; photographs (National Monuments Record) of Newgate Gaol before 1902 show the aedicules on the southeast and east sides as empty but there are four statues on the southwest and west fronts. It seems that these were the figures of Plenty, Liberty, Severity (Justice) and Peace carved by Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630-1700) for the west side of the gatehouse of the old Newgate Gaol for which he received a payment of £100 on 27 May 1676 (Guildhall Library, Manuscripts Department, MS 184/4). The four statues were advertised for sale by Crowther of Syon Lodge in January 1995 (Apollo, CXL).
REPRODUCED. J Summerson, 'Newgate Gaol: catalogue of drawings in Sir John Soane's Museum'. Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, II, 1959, p.46; Stroud fig.29c; Soane: connoisseur & collector, catalogue of an exhibition at the Soane Museum, 1995, cat.29.
REPRODUCED. J Summerson, 'Newgate Gaol: catalogue of drawings in Sir John Soane's Museum'. Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, II, 1959, p.46; Stroud fig.29c; Soane: connoisseur & collector, catalogue of an exhibition at the Soane Museum, 1995, cat.29.
Level
Drawing
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk