(1-2, 4-6 ) to the same scale of 1/22 in to 1ft; (3) 1/10 in to 1 ft (1, 3, 4) with bar scales

as above, (4) 620. feet on long axis 513' 4"

(1) Pen, pencil within double ruled border (2) pen, sepia wash, pencil within triple ruled border with box for title (3) pen, pencil within single ruled border (4) pen, pencil within double ruled and wash border (5) pen, pencil, warm sepia, blue, green, and raw umber washes, shaded within triple ruled and wash border (6) pen, pencil, warm sepia, blue, green and burnt umber washes, shaded, with pink wash (added later ?), within triple ruled border on laid paper (1) two pieces joined (633 x 983, 492 x 938, 526 x 743, 632 x 989, 397 x 913, 397 x 908)

(1-4) Soane, 5-6 attributed to Thomas Hardwick (1752-1829) see below for note

(1,4) J Honig & Zoonen and beehive within cartouche (2) J Whatman (twice) and fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche with GR below (3) fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche with C & I Honig below (5-6) footed P (Heawood 3020, 3021)

Drawings 1-3 are incomplete though the section, an ideal reconstruction, is almost complete but lacking a title and other finishing touches. Drawings 4-6 are finished drawings that have been filed with Soane's Royal Academy lecture drawings. The plan (drawing 4) is carefully drawn and washed, and the lettering is certainly in Soane's hand. In fact, it was not used for Soane's R.A. lectures. The coloured-up elevation (drawing 5) corresponds with the unfinished elevation of drawing 1; the coloured up section/elevation (drawing 6) corresponds with drawing 3. Both (drawings 5 and 6) are shaded in careful sepia tones that convey the circular geometry of the building; the pink wash emphasising the cut through the section/elevation coarsely laid on and presumably added when the drawing was re-used for lecture purposes. Drawings 5 and 6 are set in a landscape with sky, clouds, hills and foreground that reinforce the notion of an ideal reconstruction with the amphitheatre placed on a rural site empty of other buildings. Professor du Prey (January/February 2009) suggested that the handling of the landscape elements of drawings 5 and 6 is beyond Soane's talent and recalls some of Hardwick's studies of Hadrian's Villa. This seems right and hence the re-attribution to Hardwick of drawings that had seemed to be 'lost'. Drawing 4 was not used in Soane's R.A. lectures but drawing 5 was used for Lecture III, drawings 31 and 44 (that is, used twice) and drawing 6 was used in Lecture IV, drawing 52. Possibly Soane 'borrowed' the drawings from Hardwick for use at the Royal Academy.Soane's sketchbook 'Italian Sketches' 1779 (SM volume 39, 6-8r,9r) REFERENCE NEEDED has a few details of the Colosseum but he probably acquired most of his information from Hardwick who made the Colosseum a particular subject of study, commissioning a model and communicating a paper to the Society of Antiquaries. P.du Prey, (J.Lever, editor), Catalogue of the the Drawings Collections of the Royal Institute of British Architects, G-K, 1973, p.92¹ mentions 'two elevations and an ideal sectional reconstruction in John Soane's collection [that] may record the appearance of [lost] Hardwick originals copied ... in the summer of 1778'. Hardwick's drawings at the RIBA Drawings Collection are a plan 'from actual admeasurements / In 1778' and an elevation of one bay inscribed 'Elevation of part of the / Colosseum - 1778 - T.Hardwick ' and 'the Model to be made 1/11 [the 11 blotted] of an Inch to a Foot' (SB57/6-7)

P.du Prey, John Soane's architectural education 1753-80, 1977, pp. 125-6 (Nos 1-3)

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