1 and 2/10 in (or 12/10 in) to 1 ft

labelled, dimensions given and calculations Signed: Geo: Dance Arch^t

• c.1788-94

Pen, sepia, light red, Naples yellow and crimson washes, shaded, pencil on laid paper laid down on (old) board with double-ruled border (580 x 490 on 645 x 545)

Dance

The chimney-piece incorporated two black marble Egyptian figures of Antinous-Osiris and Isis, thought to be Roman-made, standing on either side. A relief from Hadrian's villa at Tivoli (measuring 181.5 by 56 centimetres and with four niches, two friezes with figures, animals and dolphins, and vignettes inspired by The Odyssey) was supported by a lintel. Above this Dance placed a bust of Minerva that, in execution, was replaced by an Egyptian head (in fact, a Roman marble head of Antinous, Hadrian's favourite, with an Egyptian head dress probably added in Rome in about 1771) while Minerva was placed on a pedestal against the opposite wall. Lord Lansdowne had bought the 'Egyptian' figures, relief, and two busts from Gavin Hamilton in 1771. The chimney-piece was installed from 5 June to 17 December 1790 (Lansdowne House accounts, quoted by Kalman, p.374, n.41).

Interestingly, a wall elevation for a gallery for Lansdowne House by Francesco Panini, 1772, includes a chimney-piece incorporating the fragment from Hadrian's villa as does a very fine perspective by Joseph Bonomi of his scheme for a library made made in 1786 (RIBA Drawings Collection C₃ [15] No.2) as well as the bust of Minerva. The bas-relief and Egyptianised bust were offered for auction at Christie's on 5 July 1995. The bas-relief was not sold and remains at Bowood.

Piranesi published several designs for Egyptian chimney-pieces in Diverse Maniere d'Adornare i Cammini (1769). Dance's Lansdowne House chimney-piece is probably the first example in the Egyptian style in Britain.

A single fireplace would not have sufficed to warm a room as large as the library and a scheme for augmenting the heating arrangements was proposed, or even started, but then dropped according to Farington's diary (13 December 1794): 'The scheme for introducing warm air into Ld. Lansdowne's library is suspended, in consequence of his Lordship being told it would spoil his Books, as the air though warm wd. cause damp.' It may be that Dance had proposed a system of ducted warm-air heating of the kind that he was to use in the entrance halls of 33 Hill Street, London, Coleorton and Stratton Park. 'Steam apparatus' is mentioned in A. T. Bolton's abstract of accounts for 1793 (SM, Archive, Bolton Papers).

LITERATURE
S. Hornsby & C. Insley Green, 'A Bas-relief and a bust from the Emperor Hadrian's villa', Christie's International Magazine, June/July 1995, pp. 70-71; J. Hardy, 'The Homeric bas-relief at Lansdowne House', op.cit., p.72.

Drawing

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