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  • image SM 65/4/57

Reference number

SM 65/4/57

Purpose

[42] Working drawing

Aspect

Cross section through domed central bay of the Gallery and Mausoleum

Scale

bar scale of 1/8 inch to 1 foot

Inscribed

(pencil) some dimensions given

Signed and dated

  • datable to July or August 1811

Medium and dimensions

Pen, pencil, sepia and raw sienna washes, shaded on laid paper (430 x 595)

Hand

Soane office and Soane

Watermark

A Stace 1798, fleur-de-lis above cartouche with bar and below, AS

Notes

This south-north section through the centre of the building has the Mausoleum on the east side and the enfilade through the Gallery and the two storey almshouses on the west side of the Gallery. The drawing reveals the dramatic contrast in scale between the large top-lit gallery spaces to the low rusticated antechamber of the Mausoleum with Doric columns forming a circle, which leads to the arched burial chamber beneath the tall domed lantern. This would have created dramatic variations of light.

Soane has also sketched two designs in pencil above the drawing, one for possible clerestory windows, the other for an archway with some dimensions given.

Literature

F. Nevola, Soane's favourite subject: the story of Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2000, pp. 55 & 183

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