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[2] Design, exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1781
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Reference number
SM volume 83/70
Purpose
[2] Design, exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1781
Aspect
Perspective with part-plan
Scale
to a scale
Inscribed
MAVSOLEUM DESIGNED FOR / THE LORD BISHOP OF DERRY / INTENDED TO BE ERECTED IN IRELAND (verso in pencil) this drawing was found behind / one of the pictures (Capt. Cook) in the / Drawing Room. Probably a pupil's copy / October 1931 Arthur T. Bolton FSA / curator
Signed and dated
- J.SOANE (the 'e' added later) ARCH. ROMAE MDCCLXXVIII
Medium and dimensions
Pen, sepia, green and burnt sienna washes, some watercolour technique, shaded on laid paper (470 x 41- with added strip of drawing 109 x 408), mended, probably in 1931 with brown parcel tape and glue
Hand
Soane
Watermark
J Honig & Zoon and bend on shield with bell surmounted by fleur-de-lis
Notes
Professor du Prey (February 2009) kindly brought this drawing to the cataloguer's attention and thus drawings 3 and 4 previously catalogued as for an Unidentified mausoleum were identified as for Downhill and re-united with this companion drawing.
A great deal has changed from the design shown in drawing 1. Soane's re-design shows a domed rotunda with 12 Doric columns crowned by a skeletal figure of Death the Reaper. The fluted shafts are plain for the lower one-third - the height of a circular internal wall. The rotunda rests on a circular plinth upon a square, heavily rusticated basement with an arched opening containing a sarcophagus . Near each corner of the roof to the basement is a statue on a pedestal fronted by an antefixa that secures a leaf festoon. The basement has a wide arched opening approached by a narrow stair. The mausoleum lies on a stepped terrace, its boundary marked by large festooned funerary urns with labels.
Though the drawing is inscribed Rome 1778, the date refers to the start of Soane's acquaintanceship with the Earl Bishop of Derry that was followed by a severe falling out in 1780. The drawing was evidently one of three drawings for mausolea exhibited by Soane at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1781, together with a 'Design for a dog house' also for the Bishop (q.v.), and (probably associated with the Bishop) a 'plan and elevation for a hunting casine' (q.v.). All three designs share the same palette and watercolour treatment of trees and sky that may have been added by another hand.
A great deal has changed from the design shown in drawing 1. Soane's re-design shows a domed rotunda with 12 Doric columns crowned by a skeletal figure of Death the Reaper. The fluted shafts are plain for the lower one-third - the height of a circular internal wall. The rotunda rests on a circular plinth upon a square, heavily rusticated basement with an arched opening containing a sarcophagus . Near each corner of the roof to the basement is a statue on a pedestal fronted by an antefixa that secures a leaf festoon. The basement has a wide arched opening approached by a narrow stair. The mausoleum lies on a stepped terrace, its boundary marked by large festooned funerary urns with labels.
Though the drawing is inscribed Rome 1778, the date refers to the start of Soane's acquaintanceship with the Earl Bishop of Derry that was followed by a severe falling out in 1780. The drawing was evidently one of three drawings for mausolea exhibited by Soane at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1781, together with a 'Design for a dog house' also for the Bishop (q.v.), and (probably associated with the Bishop) a 'plan and elevation for a hunting casine' (q.v.). All three designs share the same palette and watercolour treatment of trees and sky that may have been added by another hand.
Level
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