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Design for the ceiling of the first bay of the Scala Regia, August 1822
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Reference number
SM 71/2/52
Purpose
Design for the ceiling of the first bay of the Scala Regia, August 1822
Aspect
Plan and Section of a Design for the Ceiling of the Scala Regia; (verso) plan and laid out wall elevations of a Royal Gallery
Scale
to a scale; (verso) bar scale of 1/6 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
as above, labelled: House of Lords; (verso, pencil) Door (twice), ----- (illegible)
Signed and dated
- August 1822
August 1822; (verso) 2d August 1822
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pink and sepia washes (verso: pen, pink, sepia and blue washes), pricked for transfer on wove paper (675 x 523)
Hand
Arthur Patrick Mee (1802 - 1868)
Pupil January 1818 - November 1823.
Pupil January 1818 - November 1823.
Watermark
1821
Notes
The ceiling of the first bay of the Scala Regia is barrel-vaulted and coffered. The coffers are decorated with rosettes, ball mouldings and acanthus leaves (shown full sized in SM 71/2/55) and this design owes something to the Arch of Septimius Severus as engraved by Desgodetz (S. Sawyer, Soane at Westminster, PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1999, p. 408). In the centre is a large rosette with a female mask. It does not appear to be the same as a rosette that was used throughout Soane's house at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was based on an ornament from the Temple of Vespasian in Rome.
The verso of the drawing shows a design for the Royal Gallery, part of Soane's intended 'National Monument' (see drawings 71/2/65-66). The Gallery consists of three equal cross-vaulted bays lit by a clerestory of semicircular windows, with niches for statues in the walls and columns on either side of the room. The room is entered through two closely-grouped pairs of columns (to the left of the drawing).
The verso of the drawing shows a design for the Royal Gallery, part of Soane's intended 'National Monument' (see drawings 71/2/65-66). The Gallery consists of three equal cross-vaulted bays lit by a clerestory of semicircular windows, with niches for statues in the walls and columns on either side of the room. The room is entered through two closely-grouped pairs of columns (to the left of the drawing).
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