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[5] Presentation elevation of the river front made after winning the Royal Academy's Gold Medal, 1777
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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 12/5/4
Purpose
[5] Presentation elevation of the river front made after winning the Royal Academy's Gold Medal, 1777
Aspect
The Elevation to the River of a Design for a Triumphal Bridge
Scale
bar scale of 1/15 in to 1 ft
Inscribed
as above
Signed and dated
- Jn Soan Archt and 1777
Medium and dimensions
Pen, light blue, sepia, raw umber and green washes, pencil, shaded within double ruled and black wash border on laid paper, 3 sheets joined (540 x 2410)
Hand
Robert Baldwin (fl.1762- c.1804), ? Soane
Watermark
J Whatman (twice)
Notes
The drawing was made after Soane submitted a plan, end elevation and section (SM 12/5/1, SM 12/5/2 and SM 12/5/3) to the Royal Academy in November 1776 but before he was elected a year later to the R.A. Travelling Scholarship on or about 10 December 1777. The draughtsmanship (as with SM 12/5/2 and SM 12/5/3) is attributed largely to Robert Baldwin but the drawing of the sculpture is not attributed to Dance since (comment from Professor du Prey, February 2009) 'it is badly drawn'.
A likely reason for its appearance after Soane had submitted the other drawings to the Royal Academy was that it was not completed in time. A highly finished and large drawing - almost eight feet wide and demonstrating very well the length of the bridge, 1186 feet, as required by the competition conditions - it would have taken weeks to make. A later copy to the same scale (see SM 12/5/8) took 28 days. A Royal Academy regulation did not permit students to send their winning Gold Medal drawings in for the annual exhibition ('Royal Book 1768-1802', 11 August 1769) - a pity since the four drawings, hung together, would have looked very fine.
The bridge of seven heavily rusticated semicircular arches carries a complex superstructure. Over the centre arch is a rusticated drum with a Pantheon-type dome, and over the first and seventh arches are large roofless drums with engaged columns, and at each entrance are twin domed rotundas. Down the centre runs a carriageway, and double Corinthian colonnades punctuated by pedimented pavilions provide corridors for pedestrians on each side. The order is Corinthian and there is a lavish sculptural programme, the drawing of which must again be attributed to George Dance.
A likely reason for its appearance after Soane had submitted the other drawings to the Royal Academy was that it was not completed in time. A highly finished and large drawing - almost eight feet wide and demonstrating very well the length of the bridge, 1186 feet, as required by the competition conditions - it would have taken weeks to make. A later copy to the same scale (see SM 12/5/8) took 28 days. A Royal Academy regulation did not permit students to send their winning Gold Medal drawings in for the annual exhibition ('Royal Book 1768-1802', 11 August 1769) - a pity since the four drawings, hung together, would have looked very fine.
The bridge of seven heavily rusticated semicircular arches carries a complex superstructure. Over the centre arch is a rusticated drum with a Pantheon-type dome, and over the first and seventh arches are large roofless drums with engaged columns, and at each entrance are twin domed rotundas. Down the centre runs a carriageway, and double Corinthian colonnades punctuated by pedimented pavilions provide corridors for pedestrians on each side. The order is Corinthian and there is a lavish sculptural programme, the drawing of which must again be attributed to George Dance.
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
John Soane Architect: Master of Space and Light, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 11 September - 3 December 1999; Centro Palladio, Vicenza, April - August 2000; Hôtel de Rohan, Paris, January - April 2001; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, 16 May - 3 September 2001; Real Academia des Bellas Artes, Madrid, October - December 2001
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