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[4] Early design, possibly made c.1781-4
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- Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
Reference number
SM 13/2/3
Purpose
[4] Early design, possibly made c.1781-4
Aspect
Cross section through domed hall and twin apses
Scale
(feint) bar scale 1/8 in to 1 ft
Signed and dated
- datable to 1781-4 ? (see note below)
Medium and dimensions
Pen, sepia and pink washes, shaded on laid paper, (later) cloth backed, edges bound with black tape (340x 743)
Hand
Undentified Italian draughtsman
Watermark
Honig
Notes
This section corresponds with the elevation and plan in Sketches in architecture (plates xxxviii and xxxix), published 1793. Except that here, sculpted female figures are shown around the oculus while the rusticated bases to the pyramids shown in Sketches ... are not present. Taking this section with a copy of the elevation (SM volume 66/39), the starting point for the design was clearly Soane's 'Mausoleum to the Memory of James King' (q.v. and as published in Designs in architecture, 1778, plate xxxvii). That is, a dome (though different in profile), pyramids and terraces but without the ground floor storey and, importantly, on a trefoil rather than an X-plan.
In a poor condition (part of the left hand side has been lost) and yellowed, the drawing was evidently framed and hung at some time - an indication of its importance to Soane. du Prey (op.cit., p.136) considered it as 'apparently the earliest finished Chatham Mausoleum drawing to survive'. If it was one of the three drawings for a mausoleum exhibited by Soane at the Royal Academy in 1781 or the single drawing for the same subject exhibited in 1784, it is odd that none are described in the RA catalogues as a section - a term readily used by Soane for other RA drawings. The section may have been made for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1781 and not used. Of the three drawings exhibited: plan, elevation and 'design' (perspective ?) none have survived. Nor the designs for a mausoleum exhibited in 1784 or in 1792. The only extant RA drawing for a mausoleum, was hung in 1799 (see SM P98). Professor du Prey (in conversation, February 2009) attributes this drawing to an Italian draughtsman.
In a poor condition (part of the left hand side has been lost) and yellowed, the drawing was evidently framed and hung at some time - an indication of its importance to Soane. du Prey (op.cit., p.136) considered it as 'apparently the earliest finished Chatham Mausoleum drawing to survive'. If it was one of the three drawings for a mausoleum exhibited by Soane at the Royal Academy in 1781 or the single drawing for the same subject exhibited in 1784, it is odd that none are described in the RA catalogues as a section - a term readily used by Soane for other RA drawings. The section may have been made for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1781 and not used. Of the three drawings exhibited: plan, elevation and 'design' (perspective ?) none have survived. Nor the designs for a mausoleum exhibited in 1784 or in 1792. The only extant RA drawing for a mausoleum, was hung in 1799 (see SM P98). Professor du Prey (in conversation, February 2009) attributes this drawing to an Italian draughtsman.
Literature
P.du Prey, John Soane's architectural education 1753-80, 1977, pp.136-8
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
Soane and Death, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 26 February - 12 May 1996
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