bar scale (marked Feet) of 1/32 in to 1ft

Plans of a Mausoleum, (X-plan) labelled Chapel / 85 feet diameter, Sepulchral Chamber (8 times) measuring 48 feet diam^r and 48 feet by 28 feet; (principal storey) labelled Loggio (twice) and 85 feet diameter (upper storey) 85 feet Diam^r

• John Soane Arch^t (the 'e' of Soane added later) 1777

Pen, light green, pink and sepia washes, shaded, pencil amendments and additions within double ruled and wash border, pricked for transfer (the pin holes are distinct so this is the original rather than a copy) on laid paper (456 x 666)

Robert Baldwin (fl.1762-c.1804)

J Whatman & fleur-de-lis within crowned cartouche with GR below

The plans are drawn with the illusion of being on paper scrolled at the corners and fixed with a nail at the top. The X-plan has four concave sides with four pyramidal pavilions at each corner. Each concave side is approached by a wide stair, segmental on plan, though there is only one entrance. The first floor is internally circular with an overall plan that has two straight sides each with a distyle 'portico in antis' and two longer convex sides, each with eight columns. Soane's pencil amendments include moving the first floor colonnade back and the 'portico in antis' forward, and the semicircular plan of external niches becomes rectangular. The second floor is circular with internal alcoves and external columns reflecting the organisation of the first floor.

Soane exhibited an 'Elevation of a mausoleum, to the memory of James King, Esq.' in the Spring exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1777. Presumably this drawing was intended to be exhibited alongside. It was only from 1784 that Soane decided to add an 'e' to his name. As with other of his early drawings, he has written in an 'e' after 'Soan'.

Other pencil amendments to this plan include widening the entrance and the flanking alcoves. These changes are not shown in the record drawings (SM volume 66/32 and SM volume 66/33) but appear in Gandy's perspectives dated 7 January and 3 December 1799.

Soane's Designs in architecture ..., 'publish'd July 1, 1778', has a part-plan (plate XXXVIII) and an elevation (plate XXXVII) that shows a dome, drum, single principal storey and base with pyramids.

For another plan drawn in the same projected manner see Design for an Academy of Arts, 1776 (SM 45/1/17; online [7].1.

Copies of this drawing are in the V & A Museum, see P.du Prey, Sir John Soane, 1985, in series of 'Catalogues of architectural drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum', catalogue 21-23

Drawing

Death and Memory: Soane and the Architecture of Legacy, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 23 October 2015 - 2 April 2016

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