(in Soane's hand, pencil) To the Right Hon Lord Harrowby / M^r C Greville & M^r Amyott / this plate is inscribed

Pencil and sepia wash on laid paper (303 x 488)

Soane

C Ansell 1824

Following the order to remove the four pairs of columns in the Privy Council Chamber (q.v. drawings 251-253) Soane had a further run-in with Charles Greville when he demanded the removal of the skylights and the replacement of the groined ceiling with a flat one. The Treasury officials complained that they had seen no finished drawings or designs for the elaborate interior. Soane, though, maintained that 'the great features of the Council Room, the columns, the four arches from whence the groined ceiling springs, as well as the groined ceiling itself are to be traced in the different plans, and as such I conceived sanctioned' (King's Works, VI, pp. 558-559). Drawing 254, sarcastically dedicated 'To the Right Hon. Lord Harrowby, Mr C. Greville & Mr Amyott' (a Treasury official and Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries), foreshadows Soane's 'undecoration' works to the Privy Council Chamber. The room was spared at the last minute after scaffolding had already been erected. Greville finally had his way in 1844, however, when Soane's interior was stripped as part of Charles Barry's remodelling of the Treasury Offices.

Drawing

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