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[1] Preliminary design, 1779
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Reference number
SM 45/1/11
Purpose
[1] Preliminary design, 1779
Aspect
Elevation, rough plans and detail
Scale
(of elevation, bar scale) 1/5 in to 1ft
Inscribed
(pencil, verso) Sir Willm Molesworth (1758-98, of Pencarrow, Cornwall, in Italy 1777-9 see J.Ingamells, Dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy, 1701-1800, 1997) / alle Crocelle (an inn in Naples)
Signed and dated
- 1779
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, burnt umber wash, shaded, partly pricked for transfer on laid paper (519 x 393)
Watermark
Scrolly ornate cartouche with M below (probably Italian)
Notes
Roughly drawn and unresolved, Soane's design consists of a domed, open, Corinthian rotunda (12 feet wide and housing a sculpted figure) over a square (on plan) middle storey with arched opening on a base with a stepped plinth (30 feet wide). The three-stage edifice is 60 feet high. A rough plan and erasures on the elevation suggest that Soane's original idea of an arched opening containing a sarcophagus was here altered to a blind opening with a bust placed in front of it. The source of the design lies in the Roman monument of the Julii at Saint-Remy in Provence. Soane's variations include the use of a Doric order instead of a Corinthian order for the middle storey and a rusticated base rather than the richly carved one of the original.
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