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Design for a Royal Gallery, December 1822
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- Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
Reference number
SM 71/2/68
Purpose
Design for a Royal Gallery, December 1822
Aspect
Perspective Sketch of a Design for the proposed Royal Gallery forming the / Approach for His Majesty to the House of Lords
Inscribed
as above
Signed and dated
- December 1822
Lincolns Inn Fields, December 1822
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, pen, sepia, blue and yellow washes, shaded, with multi-ruled caput and black wash border on wove paper (408 x 303)
Hand
Soane Office
Notes
A complete rebuilding of the room marked 'B' on SM 71/2/84, Soane's new Royal Gallery has three bays with characteristic pendentive domes, the centre one of which carries a lantern and at least one of which appears to be painted with a naturalistic sky effect. The domes are richly ornamented with scrolls, rosettes and acanthus motifs. The plan of the room is shown on SM 71/2/85, although the perspective differs in some respects. For instance, the apses in the perspective are top lit, and the niches in the apses on the plan become open arches. Furthermore the perspective shows no columns whereas the plan has pairs of columns between each of the bays. Soane favoured top-lighting for galleries as can be seen at Dulwich Picture Gallery and his own Picture Room at Lincoln's Inn Fields. The panelled double-doors at the end of the gallery lead through to the Painted Chamber. The Royal Gallery was executed in 1824 to an entirely different design.
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