Royal College of Surgeons, 41-42 (now 35-43) Lincoln's Inn Fields, Holborn, Camden, London, 1805-12 (with James Lewis)

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George Dance office drawings: the drawings of George Dance the Elder and George Dance the Younger
- Public buildings (3)
  - Royal College of Surgeons, 41-42 (now 35-43) Lincoln's Inn Fields, Holborn, Camden, London, 1805-12 (with James Lewis) (226). Survey drawings, preliminary designs, design and working drawings

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Reference number

SM D3/13/9

Purpose

Royal College of Surgeons, 41-42 (now 35-43) Lincoln's Inn Fields, Holborn, Camden, London, 1805-12 (with James Lewis)

Aspect

[70] Elevation of front with attic storey between cornices and Ionic portico with sculptured arms

Scale

1/8 in to 1 ft

Inscribed

(verso, Dance) The Royal College of Surgeons in Lincolns Inn Fields 1808 / Small Slider 1 (refers to the shallow cupboard fixed to the top of Dance's drawings cabinet) Dated: 1808 as above (added later?)

Signed and dated

1805-12

Medium and dimensions

Pen, burnt umber wash, cream oil paint?, shaded, pencil, gum arabic within single ruled border on thin board, the corners cut off (260 x 390)

Hand

Dance

Notes

It seems as though contentious issues have been avoided as far as possible: the detailing of doors and windows has been omitted and there is no lettering in the frieze. The parapet above the entablature is solid except for two bays that have balusters pencilled in.

The illusion of a building in semi-isolation is created by the adjoining houses, Nos 40 and 43, being set back, reduced in height and partly masked by walls about 6 feet high. The commonplace basements with railings have been suppressed and, unusually, Dance has added figures and (in a creamy white oil paint?) highlights and clouds; a wash of gum arabic adds depth and character.

This presentation elevation corresponds to a print of the front of the Royal College of Surgeons (drawn by Busby and engraved by Wichelo in Beauties of England and Wales, Part 3, p.706, published by John Harris, 1 February 1814). A later print (drawn by Thomas H. Shepherd, engraved by William Deeble and published 9 February 1828 by Jones & Co., in Elmes's Metropolitan Improvements, No.15) shows the tripodal braziers with entwined serpents over each of the four outer columns that were added in 1815 (as shown on [SM D5/7/1] and [SM D5/7/1B].

All of the elevations ([SM D3/14/27], [SM D5/7/4], [SM D5/7/6], [SM D5/7/3], [SM D5/7/2], [SM D5/7/1], [SM D5/7/1B] and [SM D3/13/9], and subsequently) show a seven-bay front with blind windows in the centre, doors in bays b and f and windows either side of the doors - reflecting the original disposition of openings. Yet on the plans that show the whole building ([SM D5/3/23], [SM D5/1/12], [SM D5/1/15], [SM D5/2/23], [SM D5/2/21], [SM D5/2/22], [SM D5/1/1], [SM D5/1/7], [SM D5/1/13], [SM D5/1/6], [SM D5/1/9], [SM D5/1/11], [SM D5/1/10]), a ten-bay north front is shown. This becomes seven bays in the group of drawings for the north front and portico ([SM D3/14/27], [SM D5/7/4], [SM D5/7/6], [SM D5/7/3], [SM D5/7/2], [SM D5/7/1], [SM D5/7/1B], [SM D3/13/9], [SM D5/7/5], [SM D5/7/16], [SM D5/7/8], [SM D5/7/14], [SM D5/7/15], [SM D5/3/7], [SM D5/7/9], [SM D5/8/11], [SM D5/8/14], [SM D5/8/8], [SM D5/7/10], [SM D5/8/7], [SM D5/1/8], [SM D5/8/10], [SM D5/8/13], [SM D5/7/7], [SM D5/8/12], [SM D5/8/19], [SM D5/8/3], [SM D5/3/6], [SM D5/3/4], [SM D5/3/5], [SM D5/8/4], [SM D5/8/5], [SM D5/8/6], [SM D5/8/9], [SM D5/8/17], [SM D5/8/15], [SM D5/8/2], [SM D5/8/16], [SM D5/8/1], [SM D5/8/18], [SM D5/4/19], [SM D5/4/21], [SM D5/4/22], [SM D5/4/25], [SM D5/4/26], [SM D5/4/23], [SM D5/4/24], [SM D5/9/9], [SM D5/9/14], [SM D5/9/16], [SM D5/9/15], [SM D5/9/10], [SM D5/9/11], [SM D5/9/12], [SM D5/9/2], [SM D5/9/4], [SM D5/9/1]).

REPRODUCED. Stroud fig.57a.

Literature updated April 2024.

Literature

F. Sands, Fanciful Figures: people in architectural drawings, 2024, p. 26

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.

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