Survey drawing of the southern part of the Savoy Hospital, 1692, connected with an order by the Treasury Commissions to Wren on 14 March 1692 and his response on 16 August 1692 (Book of 'Court Orders', SM 165, fo. 131) (the drawing is now in the Fauntleroy Pennant volume III, no. 75, on the same page as a topographical drawing by Wenceslaus Hollar, SM volume 148, no. 76, c.1640s-50s, showing the river elevation of the Savoy Hospital).

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English Baroque Drawings: architecture, sculpture and garden design
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  - Book of 'Court Orders', 1669-95 (Nicholas Hawksmoor)

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Reference number

SM volume 148, no. 75

Purpose

Survey drawing of the southern part of the Savoy Hospital, 1692, connected with an order by the Treasury Commissions to Wren on 14 March 1692 and his response on 16 August 1692 (Book of 'Court Orders', SM 165, fo. 131) (the drawing is now in the Fauntleroy Pennant volume III, no. 75, on the same page as a topographical drawing by Wenceslaus Hollar, SM volume 148, no. 76, c.1640s-50s, showing the river elevation of the Savoy Hospital).

Aspect

7 Plan

Scale

20 feet to 1 inch

Inscribed

Inscribed by Hawksmoor in pen and brown ink with names of rooms, areas and spaces, including, bottom centre, The Jesuit Colledge; and within Savoy Chapel, Jesuits Chapell; and within central area, Old Glas house belonging to a Citizen; and at right, Hen Allen; and in modern pencil at bottom right, drawn by Sr Ch Wren about 1670

Signed and dated

1 1692; 2 1640s-50s

Medium and dimensions

Pen and brown ink with grey wash over pencil; 316 x 407 (the Hollar drawing is in pen and brown ink over pencil, with ruled pencil lines on verso; 103 x 262)

Hand

Nicholas Hawksmoor

Watermark

none visible

Notes

Built in the 13th century and rebuilt by Henry VII in 1505 as a hospital for the poor, together with the still surviving Savoy Chapel (1515), it was taken over for wounded servicement in 1675 (see B. Weinreb and C. Hibbert, eds, The London Encyclopaedia, 1983, pp. 795-96; and H. M. Colvin, ed. The History of the King's Works, III, 1485-1660 (Part I), 1975, pp. 196-206). In 1686 Wren was responsible for enlarging the French Protestant Chapel on the site (Colvin, Biographical Dictionary, 2008, p. 1162). In 1687 a Jesuit school for 400 boys was founded at the Savoy. It was closed soon after the abdication of James II in December 1688. Hawksmoor's survey plan of the Savoy was prepared in connection with a proposal to convert the former Jesuit college and chapel for use as a seamens' hospital. Wren received a express'd in the platt annexed') (Wren Society, XVII, p. 89). An addendum to his order, request from the Treasury Commissioners to examine 'the situation and Boundary of the Edifices lately posses'd by the Jesuits and Benedictine Monks in the Savoy' on 14 March 1692. He descriptions of the dimension of the Chapel and College correspond with those on Hawksmoor's plan, which must be the one Wren submitted with his report on 16 August that year ('All wch is more fully Expressed in the platt annexed'). An addendum in Hawksmoor's hand, headed 'Since add this paragraph', adds further information on the dimensions of structures at the east end of the site (SM 165, fo. 131, bottom of page; see Wren Society, XVIII, p. 89).

The style of drawing and handwriting are similar to those on Hawksmoor's early drawings for Greenwich Hospital in 1694-95, e.g. the preliminary designs for the 'Side Step' scheme at All Souls (Geraghty, 2007, cat. nos. 186, 187). Hollar's drawing may be connected with his preparatory drawings for the Long View of London from Bankside, published in Amsterdam in 1647, or his bird's-eye view of this part of London, c.1660, where the entire Savoy Hospital is shown in perspective (see Colvin, Kings Works III, pl. 12).

Literature

Wren Society, XVIII, pl. 3; A. Geraghty, The Architectural Drawings of Sir Christopher Wren at All Souls College, Oxford: A Complete Catalogue, 2007, p. 135

Level

Drawing

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