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[15] Drawing made for exhibition at the Royal Academy by J.M.Gandy, 1812
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- Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
Reference number
P254 North Drawing Room: west wall
Purpose
[15] Drawing made for exhibition at the Royal Academy by J.M.Gandy, 1812
Aspect
Bird's eye view
Scale
to a scale
Inscribed
n/a frame labelled (later) DESIGN FOR BRITISH SENATE HOUSE. SIR JOHN SOANE. ROME 1779
Signed and dated
- n/a
Medium and dimensions
n/a Original gilt, reeded frame (matching SM volume 66/5)
Hand
J.M.Gandy (1771-1843)
Watermark
n/a
Notes
Soane evidently commisioned Gandy to make this drawing in 1811 for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1812 ('A view of a design for a Senate-House, from the original drawings made in Rome, in the year 1779') . The drawing shows a great parliamentary complex with a wide river beyond it and a many arched bridge ending in a crescent-shaped piazza, reminiscent of George Dance's unexecuted scheme for the Improvement of the Port of London (designed from 1796).
Pictured on a cloudy day, the sun breaks through to illuminate the building while in the background beyond the river, mist veils a city that includes St Paul's. In the right-hand background are fields and woods. The only change from the original design is the addition of a detached river entrance or water gate, and a bridge. Interestingly, the drawing is made as though the building was indeed built thirty years before, with weathered roofs and columns and unkempt lawns and trees.
The drawing and SM P261 were used in Soane's Royal Academy lecture VI Nos 52, 54 (see D.Watkin, Sir John Soane: Enlightenment thought and the Royal Academy Lectures,1996, pp.681-2).
Pictured on a cloudy day, the sun breaks through to illuminate the building while in the background beyond the river, mist veils a city that includes St Paul's. In the right-hand background are fields and woods. The only change from the original design is the addition of a detached river entrance or water gate, and a bridge. Interestingly, the drawing is made as though the building was indeed built thirty years before, with weathered roofs and columns and unkempt lawns and trees.
The drawing and SM P261 were used in Soane's Royal Academy lecture VI Nos 52, 54 (see D.Watkin, Sir John Soane: Enlightenment thought and the Royal Academy Lectures,1996, pp.681-2).
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