1/7 in to 1 ft

48 Steps and dimensions given

• Rome / May 21^st 1778

(plan) Pen and black wash, (section) pen, sepia, yellow ochre and burnt umber washes, shaded, within double ruled black and grey wash border on laid paper (691 x 502)

Soane (see note below)

fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche with C & I Honig below, and IV

Soane arrived in Rome on 2 May 1778, and this drawing is the earliest dated measured drawing made (copied) in that city. The measured drawings for the church of San Stefano Rotondo al Celio (q.v.) share a similar method of presentation and were made in the same week as the one catalogued here. It is thought that all may be copies by Soane from an unidentified source, though probably a fellow countryman since the scale is in English feet. In June 1778, Thomas Hardwick closely copied Soane's plan of Santa Agnese fuori le Mura, drawing it to the same scale of 1/7 of an inch to 1 foot (RIBA Drawings Collection SB60/9). However, Professor du Prey notes (January/February 2009) that though '21 May is early days for Soane to have organized so detailed a campaign of measuring, especially of the elevation, often so precise a date [May 21^st 1778] is associated with something he carried out personally rather than copied. Sta Costanza is a stone's throw away. S. Stefano is further afield'. Soane's drawing was later re-used as a Royal Academy lecture drawing (lecture V, drawing 10) when it would seem that window glazing, some washes, shade and shadow and a border were added to the original drawing. du Prey (op.cit., 1982) notes the suppression of the early mosaics and the ornate Renaissance ceiling of the 7th century basilica church as well as the regularisation of the capitals of the arcades, 'restoring' it to what was imagined to be its earlier Antique state.

P.du Prey, 'Soane and Hardwick in Rome: a Neo-Classical partnership', Architectural History, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, XV, 1972, pp.53-4,60-1
P.du Prey, (Jill Lever, editor), Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects, volume G-K, 1973, p.91³
P.du Prey, John Soane's architectural education 1753-80, 1977, pp. 109-10
P.du Prey, John Soane: the making of an architect, 1982, p.131

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk