• Main Year: 0
• 1740s
  Other Years

The Gibbs notebook at Sir John Soane's Museum (SM volume 26) has, on its title page, the signature of Henry Holland (top margin, right-hand side, with a deletion next to it: MR ?), and below, in Gibbs's hand, a ten-line inscription, A few Short Cursory Remarks on some of the finest Ancient and modern Buildings in Rome, and other parts of Italy, by M^r Gibbs while he was studying Architecture. being Memorandums for his own use. 1707 and not intended to be made Public being imperfect. The deletion of 1707 is presumably a later correction. As John Holloway showed in 1955, the entire notebook is in Gibbs's hand, and is datable to the later 1740s ('A James Gibbs Autobiography', The Burlington Magazine, May 1955, pp. 147-51). For comparisons with Gibbs's handwriting, see the inscriptions on autograph drawings from the 1720s-40s in Friedman, James Gibbs (e.g., pls. 69, [1741], 127 [1728-32], 212 [1741], 268 [1740]). The style of handwriting in the notebook is closest to that found on drawings from the 1740s. A section concerning the Radcliffe Camera, dates soon after the completion of the building in 1747. The first part of the notebook (pages 1-70) is a series of retrospective commentaries by Gibbs on buildings and cities he saw in Italy. He was in Rome for some years (p. 84) soon after 1703, and returned to England in 1709. These notes include references to buildings and publications from the 1720s and 1730s (see T. Friedman, James Gibbs, 1984, pp. 1-2). The remainder of the notebook (pp. 83-102) is written in very similar handwriting and ink under the heading, A short accompt of M^r James Gibbs architect and of several things he built in England &c. affter his returne from Italy. The six drawings of the Pantheon are on consecutive pages of the volume, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, without writing on their versos. They follow a section titled, Of the Pantheon now y^e Rotunda on pages 3-6 which ends with a paragraph describing the purpose of the drawings: Here follow the several Drawings of the Original forme of this Temple, as is supposed to have ben, (by a great many architects) when it was at first built in the time of the Republick, as likewise shewing the portico built by Agrippa, and other additions and imbellishments made to it, at different times by others, when it was decayed, and repaired by them.The drawings are on separate sheets of paper pasted on to the pages, but are probably contemporary with the notes in the volume, for they have been carefully scaled to fit within the margins. The scale bars on pages 7 and 13 compare with those on drawings from this decade in the use of a 'V' symbol at the start (see Friedman, James Gibbs, pls. 69, 212, 268). The drawings are adaptation of illustrations in six plates in Carlo Fontana's book, each one involving variations from the source, reflecting Gibbs's interpretation of the history and original appearance of the monument.

Sub-scheme

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