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[3] Finished drawing for a ceiling for the auditorium, 1776, unexecuted
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Reference number
SM Adam volume 14/16
Purpose
[3] Finished drawing for a ceiling for the auditorium, 1776, unexecuted
Aspect
Plan of a tapering rhomboid compartmental ceiling, divided by bands of Greek key fret, shown alternatively in gilding and black, and with a border of rosettes enclosed within acanthus leaves along the wide end, and there are a variety of different ornamental compartments, containing medallions, figurative tablets, rosettes enclosed within octagons and lozenges, and fans, and with pencil annotations on the right-hand side continuing the ornamentation as if the ceiling were rectangular
Scale
bar scale of 3/10 inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
Sketch of a Coloured Ceiling which is contrived to correspond with the inside finishing of the side, front and Stage of the / Theatre / And nothing is absolutely fixed as to the method of finishing or mode of colouring. It might be done of Lath and Plaister / and Stucco Mouldings, the Pictures painted and pasted up and the Gildings or plain coloured Grounds done whenever the / plaister is dry enough to receive it, which at this Season of the Year would not be long. / over the King's Box / over the King's Box
Signed and dated
- 1776
Adelphi / 1776.
Medium and dimensions
Pen, pencil, wash and coloured washes including yellow ochre, olive green, and pink on laid paper (443 x 567)
Hand
Adam office hand, possibly Joseph Bonomi
Literature
Bolton, 1922, Volume II, Index p. 37
Stillman, 1966, p. 105
Survey of London, p. 45 and pl. 10b
For a full list of literature references see scheme notes.
Stillman, 1966, p. 105
Survey of London, p. 45 and pl. 10b
For a full list of literature references see scheme notes.
Level
Drawing
Exhibition history
'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