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  • image SM 73/3/21

Reference number

SM 73/3/21

Purpose

[14] Working drawing for the clerk of works, 7 October 1790

Aspect

Plan of court at window sill level and laid-out elevations of walls facing the court

Scale

bar scale of 1/8 inch to one foot

Inscribed

(Soane) A B C, The Windows on the two pair / floor & Attics are to have / only three Stones as per Sketch / rebated to receive the frames & to / go through the whole thickness of Walls as in the other // A. The inside Recess of these / Windows all round the Quadrangle / to range with the Soffites of / the Cells // B. This fascia / is to range / with the window / Cills of the Aeries (*) in the same manner /as at C. (verso) Mr Cooper (Clerk of Works at Norwich Castle). * 'Aerie ... used fig[uratively] of a high-perched human dwelling or retreat' (OED) and refers here to the windows of the topmost storey.

Signed and dated

  • Octr 7 1790

Medium and dimensions

Pen and sepia washes, shaded on stout cartridge paper with three fold marks (490 x 600)

Hand

Soane office and Soane

Notes

Soane's office 'Journal No 1' has an entry for 5 October 1790 - 'to Norwich Castle' and on 7 October - 'Cooper 10.0.0'. Robert Cooper was Soane's clerk of the works for Norwich Castle from 25 March 1790 to 23 February 1793 ('Ledger B', p.10) and the drawing is directed to him. It was made by an office hand shortly before 5 November and taken by Soane to Norwich. Soane amended it with a writing (quill) pen: the windows were to be modestly rusticated with 'three stones' (one keystone and two voussoirs), and the 'fascia' (string course or plat) at B was to be raised and run as that at C on the first floor level. Soane also made the battlements taller (top elevation), and changed the height of an arch (top elevation) but then had second thoughts and cancelled that amendment.

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