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Preparatory sketch for a capriccio of the Royal Entrance, Scala Regia and Ante-Room as executed, 1824
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Reference number
SM 71/2/76
Purpose
Preparatory sketch for a capriccio of the Royal Entrance, Scala Regia and Ante-Room as executed, 1824
Aspect
Perspective Sketch of the Cloister, the Scala Regia, and Ante-Room / to the Royal Gallery - House of Lords erected 1822-3
Inscribed
as above
Medium and dimensions
Pencil, brown pen, black, blue, sepia, red and yellow washes, shaded, with single ruled border on wove paper (450 x 565)
Hand
Joseph Michael Gandy ARA (1771 - 1843)
Watermark
Weatherley & Lane 1818
Notes
SM 71/2/74-76 are among the most unusual drawings in the Soane Museum's collection. All three are preparatory sketches for presentation drawings by Soane's gifted draughtsman, Joseph Michael Gandy (1771-1843). Each has elements of Gandy's distinctive sketch style - rough ornamentation and details, liberal use of wash and a highly imaginative composition. The final presentation drawings were not executed - at least, none survives in the Soane Museum.
SM 71/2/76 shows part of the Royal Entrance, the three-bay Scala Regia and Ante-Room to the Royal Gallery as executed. These do not appear to be connected to the rest of the Palace of Westminster, however. Instead the three conjoined interiors are shown as floating on clouds. In the centre of the Scala Regia, a shaft of light beams down from the central lantern. In Sawyer's estimation the effect of the composition is to highlight the theme of the 'apotheosis' of George IV. The clouds, sky and holy light, together with Soane's highly-decorated classical interiors, allude to the near deification of the King, told through the medium of the final stages of the grand processional route from Windsor to Westminster as envisaged by Soane (S. Sawyer, 'Sir John Soane's symbolic Westminster: the apotheosis of George IV', Architectural History, 39, 1996, pp. 70-72).
SM 71/2/76 shows part of the Royal Entrance, the three-bay Scala Regia and Ante-Room to the Royal Gallery as executed. These do not appear to be connected to the rest of the Palace of Westminster, however. Instead the three conjoined interiors are shown as floating on clouds. In the centre of the Scala Regia, a shaft of light beams down from the central lantern. In Sawyer's estimation the effect of the composition is to highlight the theme of the 'apotheosis' of George IV. The clouds, sky and holy light, together with Soane's highly-decorated classical interiors, allude to the near deification of the King, told through the medium of the final stages of the grand processional route from Windsor to Westminster as envisaged by Soane (S. Sawyer, 'Sir John Soane's symbolic Westminster: the apotheosis of George IV', Architectural History, 39, 1996, pp. 70-72).
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
Soane's Magician: The Tragic Genius of Joseph Michael Gandy, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 31 March - 12 August 2006
'The Cloud-Capped Towers': Shakespeare in Soane's Architectural Imagination, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 21 April - 8 October 2016
'The Cloud-Capped Towers': Shakespeare in Soane's Architectural Imagination, Sir John Soane's Museum, London, 21 April - 8 October 2016
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