Sir John Soane's Museum is a
house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a v ...
, located next to
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...
in
Holborn
Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
The area has its roots ...
, London, which was formerly the home of
neo-classical architect
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...
,
John Soane
Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professo ...
. It holds many drawings and
architectural models of Soane's projects, and a large collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and antiquities that he acquired over many years. The museum was established during Soane's own lifetime by a
Private Act of Parliament
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
in 1833, which took effect on his death in 1837. Soane engaged in this lengthy parliamentary campaign in order to disinherit his son, whom he disliked intensely. The act stipulated that on Soane's death his house and collections would pass into the care of a Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the nation, and that they would be preserved as nearly as possible exactly in the state they were at his death. The museum's trustees remained completely independent, relying only on Soane's original endowment, until 1947. Since then, the museum has received an annual Grant-in-Aid from the British Government via the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
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.
From 1988 onwards, a programme of restoration was carried out, with spaces such as the Drawing Rooms, Picture Room, Study and Dressing Room, Picture Room Recess and others, restored to their original colour schemes, and in most cases having their original sequences of objects reinstated. Soane's three courtyards were also restored with his pasticcio (a column of architectural fragments) being reinstated in the Monument Court at the heart of the Museum. In 1997 the trustees purchased the main house at No. 14 with the help of the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
. The house was restored and has enabled the Museum to expand its educational activities, to re-locate its Research Library, and create a Robert Adam Study Centre where Soane's collection of 9,000
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
drawings is housed.
Some of Soane's paintings include works by
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
,
Hogarth, three works by his friend
J. M. W. Turner,
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...
,
Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...
,
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...
,
Augustus Wall Callcott
Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (20 February 177925 November 1844) was an English landscape painter.
Life and work
Callcott was born at Kensington Gravel Pits, a village on the western edge of London, in the area now known as Notting Hill Gate. ...
,
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...
,
William Hamilton and 15 drawings by
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric " ...
, many of which are framed and displayed in the museum. There are over 30,000
architectural drawings in the collection. Owing to the narrow passages in the house, all decked with Soane's extensive collections, only 90 visitors are allowed in the museum at any given time, and a formation of queue outside for entry is not unusual. Labels are few and lighting is discreet; there is no information desk or café. In the year ending March 2019, the museum received 131,459 visitors.
History
Houses
Soane demolished and rebuilt three houses in succession on the north side of
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...
. He began with No. 12 (between 1792 and 1794), externally a plain brick house. After becoming Professor of Architecture at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
in 1806, Soane purchased No. 13, the house next door, today the museum, and rebuilt it in two phases in 1808–09 and 1812.
In 1808–09 Soane constructed his drawing office and "museum" on the site of the former stable block at the back, using primarily top lighting. In 1812 he rebuilt the front part of the site, adding a projecting
Portland Stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...
façade to the basement, ground and first floor levels and the centre bay of the second floor. Originally this formed three open
loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...
s, but Soane glazed the arches during his lifetime. Once he had moved into No. 13, Soane rented out his former home at No. 12 (on his death it was left to the nation along with No. 13, the intention being that the rental income would fund the running of the Museum).
After completing No.13, Soane set about treating the building as an architectural laboratory, continually remodelling the interiors. In 1823, when he was over 70, he purchased a third house, No. 14, which he rebuilt in 1823–24. This project allowed him to construct a picture gallery, linked to No.13, on the former stable block of No. 14. The front main part of this third house was treated as a separate dwelling and let as an investment; it was not internally connected to the other buildings. When he died No. 14 was bequeathed to his family and passed out of the museum's ownership.
Museum
The museum was established during Soane's own lifetime by a
Private Act of Parliament
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
in 1833, which took effect on Soane's death in 1837. The Act required that No. 13 be maintained "as nearly as possible" as it was left at the time of Soane's death, and that has largely been done. The Act was necessary because Sir John had a living direct male heir, his son
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
, with whom he had had a "lifelong feud" due to George's debts, refusal to engage in a trade, and his marriage, of which Sir John disapproved. He also wrote an "anonymous, defamatory piece for the Sunday papers about Sir John, calling him a cheat, a charlatan and a copyist". Since under contemporary inheritance law George would have been able to lay claim to Sir John's property on his death, Sir John engaged in a lengthy parliamentary campaign to disinherit his son via a private Act, setting out to "reverse the fundamental laws of hereditary succession" according to some. The Soane Museum Act was passed in April 1833 and stipulated that on Soane's death his house and collections would pass into the care of a Board of Trustees, on behalf of the nation, and that they should be preserved as nearly as possible exactly as they were left at his death.
[Soane Museum.org: "What is the 'Opening up the Soane' Project?"]
. accessed 9 September 2015.
Towards the end of the 19th century (1889–90) a break-through was made to re-connect the rear rooms of No. 12 (north of the courtyard) through to the museum in No. 13 and since 1969 No. 12 has been run by the Trustees as part of the Museum, housing the research library (until 2009), offices and, since 1995, the
Eva Jiřičná
Eva Jiřičná (born 3 March 1939) is a Czech architect and designer, active in London and Prague. She is the founder of the architectural atelier ''Eva Jiricna Architects'', operating in Britain (at first as ''Jiřičná Kerr Associates'') fro ...
-designed 'Soane Gallery' for temporary exhibitions (until Summer 2011). The museum's trustees remained completely independent, relying only on Soane's original endowment, until 1947. Since that date the museum has received an annual Grant-in-Aid from the British Government (this now comes via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport).
Restoration projects
The Soane Museum is now a national centre for the study of architecture. From 1988 to 2005 a programme of restoration within the Museum was carried out under Peter Thornton and then Margaret Richardson with spaces such as the Drawing Rooms, Picture Room, Study and Dressing Room, Picture Room Recess and others being put back to their original colour schemes and in most cases having their original sequences of objects reinstated; Soane's three courtyards were also restored with his pasticcio (a column of architectural fragments) being reinstated in the Monument Court at the heart of the Museum. (Much of the cost of the work was financed by the Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation, in New York.)
In 1997 the trustees purchased the main house at No. 14 with the help of the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
.
The house was restored (2006–09) and has enabled the Museum to expand its educational activities, to re-locate its Research Library into that house, and to create a Robert Adam Study Centre where Soane's collection of 9,000 Robert Adam drawings is housed in purpose-designed new cabinets by Senior and Carmichael.
Opening up the Soane project, 2011–2016
The acquisition of No. 14 enabled the Museum under its new Director
Tim Knox
Timothy Aidan John Knox, (born 9 August 1962) is a British art historian and museum director. Since March 2018, he has been Director of the Royal Collection, the private art collection of the British Royal Family. The Royal Collection, held in ...
to complete the restoration of the museum's historic spaces,
[Architectural Record, "Sir John Soane at Home," September 2015, pgs. 39-40.] for about £7 million, funded by the Monument Trust, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Soane Foundation in New York, and other private trusts. The Museum's architects are Julian Harrap Architects.
Phase 1 began in March 2011 and was completed in 2013. It included the re-configuration of No. 12, moving the temporary exhibition gallery up to the first floor (with new showcases etc. designed by
Caruso St John
Caruso St John is a London-based architectural firm established in 1990 by Adam Caruso and Peter St John.
Practice
Caruso St John gained international recognition for its designs of public spaces. The practice came to public attention with The ...
), and new reception facilities and a shop on the ground floor. It also included new conservation studios, named the John and Cynthia Fry Gunn Conservation Centre, and the installation of lifts to provide disabled access for the first time.
Phase 2 saw the restoration of Soane's private apartments on the second floor (Bedroom, Book Room, Model Room, Oratory and Mrs Soane's Morning Room)
and opened to public tours in summer 2015.
Lost rooms recreated include Soane's own bedroom and bathroom, which he showed to the public in his lifetime.
Phase 3 provided a new Study Room at the back of No. 12 for the public to learn more about Soane, and restoration of Soane's ground-floor Ante Room with almost 200 works of art and the catacombs beneath it. The final Phase 3 of the programme was completed in summer 2016.
Architecture
![Soane Breakfast Room ILN 1864](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Soane_Breakfast_Room_ILN_1864.jpg)
The most famous spaces in the house are those at the rear of the museum – the Dome Area, Colonnade and Museum Corridor. These are mostly toplit and provide some idea in miniature form of the ingenious lighting contrived by Soane for the toplit banking halls at the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
. The ingeniously designed Picture Gallery has walls composed of large 'moveable planes' (like large cupboard doors) that allow it to house three times as many items as a space of this size could normally accommodate (the original hang in this room was reinstated in January 2011). When visiting, it is necessary to request the planes to be opened and wait for a group to gather before this is done.
The more domestic rooms of No. 13 are at the front of the house, many of them highly unusual, but often in subtle ways. The domed ceiling of the Breakfast Room, inset with convex mirrors, has influenced architects from around the world. The Library-Dining Room reflects the influence of Etruscan tombs and perhaps even gothic design in its repertoire of small pendants like those in fan vaulting. It is decorated in a rich 'Pompeian' red. The Study contains a collection of Roman architectural fragments and the two external courtyards, the Monument Court and Monk's Yard contain an array of architectural fragments, Classical in the Monument Court with its central column or 'pasticcio' representing Architecture and Gothic in the Monk's Yard, filled with medieval stonework from the Palace of Westminster.
Collections
![Soane The Sarcophagus Room ILN 1864](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Soane_The_Sarcophagus_Room_ILN_1864.jpg)
:''See also
:Collection of Sir John Soane's Museum.''
Antiquities, medieval and non-western objects
As his practice prospered, Soane was able to collect objects worthy of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, including the
Sarcophagus of Seti I
The sarcophagus of Seti I is a life-size sarcophagus of the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh that was discovered in 1817 by the Italian explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni in tomb KV17 in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Seti I is believed to have died in 127 ...
, covered in
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...
, discovered by
Giovanni Battista Belzoni
Giovanni Battista Belzoni (; 5 November 1778 – 3 December 1823), sometimes known as The Great Belzoni, was a prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities. He is known for his removal to England of the seven-tonn ...
, bought on 12 May 1824 for £2000 ()—Soane's most expensive art work.
After the Seti sarcophagus arrived at his house in March 1825, Soane held a three-day party, to which 890 people were invited, the basement where the sarcophagus was housed was lit by over one hundred lamps and candelabra, refreshments were laid on and the exterior of the house was hung with lamps. Among the guests were the then Prime Minister
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
and his wife,
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...
,
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, (27 January 1773 – 21 April 1843) was the sixth son and ninth child of King George III and his queen consort, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was the only surviving son of George III who did not ...
,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
, J.M.W. Turner, Sir Thomas Lawrence,
Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough
Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough (2 January 1760 – 17 January 1838) was an English politician and connoisseur of the arts.
Early life
Born in London, he was the fourth surviving son of West Indies merchant Beeston Long and his wife Sara ...
,
Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactles ...
as well as many foreign dignitaries.
Other antiquities include: Greek and Roman bronzes including ones from
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
,
cinerary urn
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
s, fragments of
Roman mosaic
A Roman mosaic is a mosaic made during the Roman period, throughout the Roman Republic and later Empire. Mosaics were used in a variety of private and public buildings, on both floors and walls, though they competed with cheaper frescos for the ...
s,
Greek vases many displayed above the bookcases in the library, Greek and Roman busts, heads from statues and fragments of sculpture and architectural decoration, examples of
Roman glass
Roman glass objects have been recovered across the Roman empire, Roman Empire in domestic, industrial and funerary contexts. Glass was used primarily for the production of vessels, although mosaic tiles and window glass were also produced. Roman g ...
.
Medieval objects include: architectural fragments, mainly from the Old
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
(acquired after the 1834 fire), tiles and
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
.
Soane acquired 44 examples of 18th-century
Chinese ceramics
Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...
as well as 12 examples of
Peruvian pottery
Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian p ...
.
Soane also purchased four
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
chairs and a table, believed to be made in
Murshidabad
Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district.
During ...
for
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He int ...
's palace at
Srirangapatna
Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Tehsil, Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian States and territories of India, State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangapatna, Ranganthaswamy ...
.
Sculpture
Francis Leggatt Chantrey
Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...
carved a white marble
bust
Bust commonly refers to:
* A woman's breasts
* Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders
* An arrest
Bust may also refer to:
Places
*Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France
*Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically
Media
* ''Bust'' (magazine ...
of Soane that is still in the museum, in the ' Dome' overlooking the Seti sarcophagus. Soane also acquired Sir
Richard Westmacott
Sir Richard Westmacott (15 July 17751 September 1856) was a British sculptor.
Life and career
Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott (the elder), Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, off Grosvenor ...
's plaster model for ''Nymph unclasping her Zone'', displayed at the back of the recess in the Picture Room.
Other acquisitions include: the plaster model of John Flaxman's memorial sculpture of
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...
.
The model of Thomas Banks's monument to
Penelope Boothby
Penelope Boothby (11 April 178513 March 1791) was a girl who has become one of the most famous child characters in British art. Her image inspired the paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Henry Fuseli, John Everett Millais, a sculpture by Thomas Banks, ...
.
Of ancient sculptures a miniature copy of the famous sculpture of
Diana of Ephesus is one of the most important in the collection. After the death of his teacher Henry Holland, Soane bought part of his collection of ancient marble fragments of architectural decoration, these were purchased by
Charles Heathcote Tatham
Charles Heathcote Tatham (8 February 1772 in Westminster, London – 10 April 1842 in London), was an English architect of the early nineteenth century.
Early life
He was born in Duke Street, Westminster, the youngest of five sons of Ralph Tath ...
for Holland in Rome in 1794–96.
Plastercasts of famous antique sculptures include:
Aphrodite of Cnidus
The Aphrodite of Knidos (or Cnidus) was an Ancient Greek sculpture of the goddess Aphrodite created by Praxiteles of Athens around the 4th century BC. It is one of the first life-sized representations of the nude female form in Greek history, di ...
,
Hercules Hesperides &
Apollo Belvedere
The ''Apollo Belvedere'' (also called the ''Belvedere Apollo, Apollo of the Belvedere'', or ''Pythian Apollo'') is a celebrated marble sculpture from Classical Antiquity.
The ''Apollo'' is now thought to be an original Roman creation of Hadrianic ...
. Soane also acquired a plastercast of the
Sulis Minerva
In the localised Celtic polytheism practised in Great Britain, Sulis was a deity worshiped at the thermal spring of Bath (now in Somerset). She was worshiped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tabl ...
sculpture found in Bath.
Paintings and drawings
![Joseph gandy bank ruins](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Joseph_gandy_bank_ruins.jpg)
Soane's paintings include: works by
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
entitled ''View of the Riva degli Schiavoni'' painted (1736) purchased in 1806 from
William Thomas Beckford
William Thomas Beckford (29 September 1760 – 2 May 1844) was an English novelist, art collector, patron of decorative art, critic, travel writer, plantation owner and for some time politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's riches ...
for 150 Guineas plus three other works by the artist, and paintings by
Hogarth: the eight canvases of the
A Rake's Progress
''A Rake's Progress'' (or ''The Rake's Progress'') is a series of eight paintings by 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–1734, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. The series ...
, purchased from the collection of William Thomas Beckford, at auction for 570 Guineas in 1801, the other Hogarth paintings Soane purchased were the four canvases of the
Humours of an Election
''The Humours of an Election'' is a series of four oil paintings and later engravings by William Hogarth that illustrate the election of a member of parliament in Oxfordshire in 1754. The oil paintings were created in 1755.
The first three pain ...
bought at auction at
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
from
David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
's widow for £1,732, 10s in June 1823. Soane acquired three works by his friend
J. M. W. Turner: the oil paintings ''Admiral Van Tromp's Barge entering the Texel'' and ''St Hugues Denouncing Vegeance on the Shepherd of Cormayer Val D'Aoust'' and the watercolour ''Kirkstall Abbey''.
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...
painted a three quarter length portrait of Soane, it is hung over the Dining Room fireplace in the museum. Soane also has a painting by
Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...
, ''a fête champêtre''.
Soane owned one oil painting by
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...
, entitled ''
Love and Beauty'', which hangs in the dining room over the
sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers ...
. Soane commissioned an oil painting from
Augustus Wall Callcott
Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (20 February 177925 November 1844) was an English landscape painter.
Life and work
Callcott was born at Kensington Gravel Pits, a village on the western edge of London, in the area now known as Notting Hill Gate. ...
c.1830, entitled ''The Passage Point -Italian Composition''. Other paintings include ''The Count of Revenna'' by
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...
, and ''The Landing of Richard II at Milford Haven'' by
William Hamilton.
Soane acquired 15 drawings by
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric " ...
, many of which are framed and displayed in the museum.
Soane's friend
John Flaxman
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...
, sketched Soane's wife, this is framed and displayed in the museum. The collection also includes twenty-two works in gouache and bodycolour by
Charles-Louis Clérisseau Charles-Louis Clérisseau (28 August 1721 – 9 January 1820) was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist who became a leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins in Italy and France. With his influence extending t ...
.
File:Canaletto - View of Venice, The Riva Degli Schiavoni, looking West, c. 1736 CDN SJS SM P66.jpg, Canaletto – ''View of Venice, The Riva Degli Schiavoni, looking West'', c. 1736
File:Canaletto - A View of the Rialto, Venice CDN SJS SM P61.jpg, Canaletto – ''A View of the Rialto''
Architectural drawings and architectural models
There are over 30,000
architectural drawings in the collection. Of Soane's drawings of his own designs (many are by his assistants and pupils, most notably
Joseph Gandy
Joseph Michael Gandy (1771–1843) was an English artist, visionary architect and architectural theorist, most noted for his imaginative paintings depicting Sir John Soane's architectural designs. He worked extensively with Soane both as ...
), covering his entire career, most are bound in 37 volumes, 97 are framed on the museum walls, and the rest are 601 covering the Bank of England, 6,266 of his other works, and 1,080 prepared for the Royal Academy lectures.
In 1817
George Dance the Younger
George Dance the Younger RA (1 April 1741 – 14 January 1825) was an English architect and surveyor as well as a portraitist.
The fifth and youngest son of the architect George Dance the Elder, he came from a family of architects, artists a ...
gave Soane a gift of a book containing architectural drawings by
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
, including
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
&
Royal Naval Hospital
A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were ...
. A major coup for Soane's collection was the purchase of the 57 volumes of 8,856 drawings by
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
and
James Adam in 1821 for £200. Another important architectural book was
John Thorpe
John Thorpe or Thorp (c.1565–1655?; fl.1570–1618) was an English architect.
Life
Little is known of his life, and his work is dubiously inferred, rather than accurately known, from a folio of drawings in the Sir John Soane's Museum, to whic ...
's book of architecture, purchased at an auction held at Christie's on 3 April 1810 and costing Soane twenty seven and half
Guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...
; the book contains nearly 300 plans and elevations of
Elizabethan architecture
Elizabethan architecture refers to buildings of a certain style constructed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland from 1558–1603. Historically, the era sits between the long era of the dominant architectural style o ...
and
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign there ...
, mainly large mansions. George Dance the Younger died in 1825, and in 1836 Soane purchased both
George Dance the Elder
George Dance the Elder (1695 – 8 February 1768) was a British architect. He was the City of London surveyor and architect from 1735 until his death.
Life
Originally a mason, George Dance was appointed Clerk of the city works to the City of ...
's 293 and George Dance the younger's 1,303 surviving drawings from his son, which were housed in the Museum in a specially designed cabinet; Sir William Chambers 789 drawings;
James Playfair 286 drawings; other architects and artists with drawings in the collection include:
Matthew Brettingham
Matthew Brettingham (1699 – 19 August 1769), sometimes called Matthew Brettingham the Elder, was an 18th-century Englishman who rose from humble origins to supervise the construction of Holkham Hall, and become one of the country's best-known ...
, Thomas Sandby,
Humphry Repton
Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...
,
Joseph Nollekens
Joseph Nollekens R.A. (11 August 1737 – 23 April 1823) was a sculptor from London generally considered to be the finest British sculptor of the late 18th century.
Life
Nollekens was born on 11 August 1737 at 28 Dean Street, Soho, London, ...
,
Peter Scheemakers
Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicist style had an important influenc ...
,
John Michael Rysbrack
Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...
, and others, in total 1,635 drawings.
There are a large number of Italian drawings, including an early 16th-century bound volume by Nicolette da Modena; the
Codex
The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
Coner early 16th century of Roman buildings; 213 mid-16th century drawings by
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...
; 3 volumes of 16th to 17th-century drawings by
Giovanni Battista Montano
Giovanni Battista Montano (1534–1621) was an Italian architect, designer and engraver of primary importance as a recorder of Antique Roman architectural remains.
Early life
Montano was born in Milan and trained primarily as a sculptor and a wo ...
; 17th-century drawings by
Giovanni Battista Gisleni
Giovanni Battista Gisleni (1600 – 3 May 1672) was an Italian Baroque architect, stage designer, theater director, singer, and musician at the Polish-Lithuanian royal court.
Gisleni was born and died in Rome. He served three Polish kings of th ...
; two volumes of 18th-century drawings by
Carlo Fontana
Carlo Fontana (1634 or 1638–1714) was an Italian architect originating from today's Canton Ticino, who was in part responsible for the classicizing direction taken by Late Baroque Roman architecture.
Biography
There seems to be no proof that ...
; Drawings of
Paestum
Paestum ( , , ) was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC, whic ...
dated 1768 by
Thomas Major;
Margaret Chinnery
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
's volume of miscellaneous drawings; plus six other volumes of various drawings.
The 252
architectural model
An architectural model is a type of scale model made to study aspects of an architectural design or to communicate design intent. They can be made from a variety of materials such as paper, plaster, plastic, resin, wood, glass and metal. They ...
s in the collection are: 118 of Soane's own buildings including 44 of the Bank of England, covering details, façades, rooms as well as complete buildings,
models of ancient Roman and Greek buildings, 20 made from
plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...
and 14 of
cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
.
There are in addition 100 models of architectural details and ornaments.
The 20 plaster models are the work of Jean-Pierre Fouquet of Paris and were acquired by Soane in 1834 for £100, these include:
Erechtheion
The Erechtheion (latinized as Erechtheum /ɪˈrɛkθiəm, ˌɛrɪkˈθiːəm/; Ancient Greek: Ἐρέχθειον, Greek: Ερέχθειο) or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple-telesterion on the north side of the Acropoli ...
,
Tower of the Winds
The Tower of the Winds or the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower in the Roman Agora in Athens that functioned as a ''horologion'' or "timepiece". It is considered the world's first meteorological stati ...
,
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ; tr, Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, an ...
,
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon (, ; la, Pantheum,Although the spelling ''Pantheon'' is standard in English, only ''Pantheum'' is found in classical Latin; see, for example, Pliny, '' Natural History'36.38 "Agrippas Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis". Se ...
,
Temple of Vesta, Tivoli
The Temple of Vesta is a Roman temple in Tivoli, Italy, dating to the early 1st century BC. Its ruins sit on the acropolis of the city, overlooking the falls of the Aniene that are now included in the Villa Gregoriana.
History
It is not known ...
,
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is an ancient Roman temple in Rome, which was later converted into a Roman Catholic church, the Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda or simply "San Lorenzo in Miranda". It is located in the Forum Romanum, on the V ...
and the
Temple of Portunus
The Temple of Portunus ( it, Tempio di Portuno) or Temple of Fortuna Virilis ("manly fortune") is a Roman temple in Rome, Italy, one of the best preserved of all Roman temples. Its dedication remains unclear, as ancient sources mention several te ...
, the buildings are depicted as reconstructions not in their current ruined state.
Management
Attendance
To this day only 90 visitors are allowed at a time, which often means a queue outside. Labels are few and lighting is discreet; there is no information desk or café. In 2010, the museum attracted 110,000 visitors.
Staff
Soane's will had provided for there to be a curator, and an inspectress (the post was created for Soane's housekeeper and close family friend Mrs Sarah Conduitt). The architectural historian Sir
John Summerson
Sir John Newenham Summerson (25 November 1904 – 10 November 1992) was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century.
Early life
John Summerson was born at Barnstead, Coniscliffe Road, Darlington. His grandfather wo ...
was curator of the museum from 1945 to 1984. For much of this period he was assisted by
Dorothy Stroud
A memorial at Croome Park
Dorothy Nancy Stroud MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'' ...
who served as inspectress from 1945 to 1985.
Summerson was succeeded by
Peter Thornton who moved from the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
to take up the post. Thornton retired in 1995, and was followed by Margaret Richardson, the first woman to hold the title of curator. She had succeeded Stroud as inspectress in 1985, and served as curator until 2005, with Helen Dorey as inspectress). From 2005 the director of the museum was
Tim Knox
Timothy Aidan John Knox, (born 9 August 1962) is a British art historian and museum director. Since March 2018, he has been Director of the Royal Collection, the private art collection of the British Royal Family. The Royal Collection, held in ...
, previously Head Curator of the
, under whose leadership the Museum has embarked on the ambitious 'Opening up the Soane' project combining the restoration of Nos. 12 and 13, including a number of lost historic features, with improved visitor and conservation facilities. The 'Opening up the Soane' project also includes a programme of audience development, a new website and on-line catalogues of the collections. In 2013, the Victoria and Albert Museum's design and architecture curator Abraham Thomas was named director of the Sir John Soane's Museum. Thomas was succeeded in the post in 2016 by Bruce Boucher, former director of the
Fralin Museum of Art
The Fralin Museum of Art is an art museum at the University of Virginia. Before 2012, it was known as the University of Virginia Art Museum. It occupies the historic Thomas H. Bayly Building on Rugby Road in Charlottesville, Virginia, a short dis ...
.
See also
* Soane's country retreat
Pitzhanger Manor
Pitzhanger Manor is an English country house famous as the home of neoclassical architect, Sir John Soane. Built between 1800 and 1804 in Walpole Park Ealing, to the west of London), the Regency Manor is a rare and spectacular example of a b ...
.
* The
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London, which opened to the public in 1817. It was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and influential method of illumination. Dulwich is the oldest publi ...
designed by Soane in 1811 is the archetype for modern art galleries from the Sainsbury Wing at London's National Gallery to the new Getty Center in California.
* With its eclectic collection idiosyncratically displayed in a domestic town house, the Soane museum shares many qualities with the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
in Boston.
* Sir John Soane should not be confused with Sir
Hans Sloane
Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...
, whose collections formed the foundation of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
and
Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
.
*
James William Wild
James William Wild (9 March 1814 – 7 November 1892) was a British architect. Initially working in the Gothic style, he later employed round-arched forms. He spent several years in Egypt. He acted as decorative architect to the Great Exhibition ...
curator in the 1880s.
* Sir John Soane's mausoleum is located at the
St. Pancras Old Church.
*
List of single-artist museums
This is a list of single-artist museums, which are museums displaying the work of, or bearing the name of, a single visual artist.
* Basuki Abdullah – Basoeki Abdullah Museum, Jakarta, Indonesia
* Affandi – Affandi Museum, Yogyakarta, Indones ...
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Reynolds, Nicole (2010). "Sir John Soane's House-Museum and Romantic Nostalgia". ''Building Romanticism: Literature and Architecture in Nineteenth-Century Britain''. University of Michigan Press. .
*
*
External links
*
Sir John Soane's Museum, Quicktime panorama
{{authority control
Architecture museums in the United Kingdom
Art museums and galleries in London
Soane, John
Historic house museums in London
John Soane buildings
Museums in the London Borough of Camden
Grade I listed houses in London
Grade I listed museum buildings
Houses in the London Borough of Camden
Houses completed in 1794
Houses completed in 1812
Houses completed in 1824
Museums sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government
Former private collections in the United Kingdom
Egyptological collections in London
Museums of ancient Greece in the United Kingdom
Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom
Art museums established in 1837
1837 establishments in England
Georgian architecture in London
Soane, John