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Reference number
SM volume 42/40
Purpose
Design
Aspect
Plan and cross section
Inscribed
The Principles 6 Inches Thick, (section, key) a Oak / B Firs 12In Wide / C Screw Bolts / D Iron plates 4 Wide / and 1 Inch Thick in the Middle, (plan, key) a Firs 9 Inches Thick / B Oak / C Screw Bolts / D an Iron Hoop 4 Inches wide and / 5/8 of an Inch Thick / Bolted together / at CC &c / FF &c Principal Rafters ; (verso, Soane) Bed, bolsters &c 2.10.0 / 2 Blankets 10-6 / A Counterpane 12 - / 1 Pair of Sheets 10 / [total] £4.2.6
Signed and dated
- datable to 1772-7
Medium and dimensions
Brown pen on laid paper with three fold marks (243 x 126)
Hand
(recto) unidentified; (verso) Soane
Notes
Soane's shopping list, written in his youthful hand, on the verso of the drawing, suggests an approximate date of 1772 to 1777. It is presumed that Soane lived in Henry Holland's household (the addresses changing) during that period and was at 7 Hamilton Street, Piccadilly from 1777. The bed and linen may have been bought after he moved to Holland's office and home or when he moved out or in between. The design for a dome on an elliptical plan with an oculus by an unknown hand (not, for example, Henry Holland's hand cf 42/31 verso) may be a theoretical exercise. Though it offers greater space for less height and gives axes of different length, an elliptical dome is more complicated to construct than a spherical dome. The method shown here used timber with iron plates and iron hoop and though perhaps ingenious was not new.An early example of an oval dome is the Baroque church of S. Andrea del Vignola, Rome, completed in 1553, of which Soane made measured drawings in November 1779 (q.v.).
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