[3] Further alternative rough designs sent by Soane to Thomas Pitt from Milan, August 1779

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Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
- Soane's architectural education: Royal Academy and Italy including measured drawings: 1770-1780
  - Soane's architectural education including theoretical designs made for the Royal Academy Schools and for exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1770-80, and in Italy, 1778-80
    - Designs for a 'Castello d'acqua', August 1779-1780, with later rough alternative designs by George Dance (10)

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Reference number

SM 42/183 rectos and versos (dismounted)

Purpose

[3] Further alternative rough designs sent by Soane to Thomas Pitt from Milan, August 1779

Aspect

(recto) Half-plan and elevation. The plan labelled A. Reservoir domed over to prevent the water being heat'd by the Sun / B, C Rooms for the Keeper, Hydraulics &c / D, D Temple to the River Gods / E, E, E, E Reservoirs arch'd over immediately under the Paved Landing / Fountain abt. 55,000 Hogsheads of Water in the 5 Reservoirs - to be / kept continually running off. / This Idea might (pencil) ^ ^be applied to a Triangle if (pencil) it be thought [written over 2 words in pen and then erased - ? Mr Pitt], think it more eligible. Elevation labelled The fountains are only introduced / to shew their situations only & / are supposed to be much unlike / what would be used in the fair / design, at the same time, suppos^g / there to be no absolute necessity for / the introduction of Rich & (sic)
(verso) Half-plan, elevation, alternative elevation without dome and (pencil) part section. The plan labelled A The great reservoir / B Fountains / C Apartments for the Keepers & for the / Hydraulics / NB The Height of the water in the both designs is supposed to be about 18 Inches below / the level of the Landing before the Columns. First elevation labelled In this design the Temples are omitted as being doubtful of the propriety of the Idea. / The rooms for the Keeper are reduced to half the Number. Alternative elevation labelled This Elevation supposes the Reservoir to remain open, which I believe must not / be, as the water would then become warm, but if this sort of Elevⁿ is preferred, / a dome or other ornament might be added to the Center to gain sufficient / height for the Section

Inscribed

as above

Medium and dimensions

Brown and black pen, pencil on half-sheet of secretary paper with four fold marks (224 x 185)

Hand

Soane

Watermark

IV (shared)

Notes

It seems that Soane's sketch designs and letters were sent to Thomas Pitt, nephew of the recently deceased Earl of Chatham. Pitt arrived in Rome, early in December 1778. He was an accomplished amateur architect and became a life-long friend to Soane. Both travelled to Naples in the winter of 1778 and there Pitt became ill and stayed for some months.

The alternative designs here show simpler versions of the earlier designs. That is, a domed design on an X-plan in which the four tempietto proposed in scheme 1 are omitted and a reduced version of scheme 2 (No 2) offering a domed or a pedimented centre.

du Prey (op.cit. 1977; 1982) fully discusses these drawings.

Literature

P. du Prey, John Soane: the making of an architect, 1982, pp.110-11, 177-84
P. du Prey, John Soane's architectural education 1753-80, 1977, pp.243-54

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

Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.

Browse (via the vertical menu to the left) and search results for Drawings include a mixture of Concise catalogue records – drawn from an outline list of the collection – and fuller records where drawings have been catalogued in more detail (an ongoing process).