Architectural Drawing
1778-1781 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This plan of the ground floor forms part of the design by Sir John Soane for the Mausoleum of Earl Chatham. It was completed between 1778 and 1781 while Soane was travelling in Italy in the company of Grand Tourists who had admired Chatham.
Soane had previously drawn upon ideas from Peyre 1765 for the Triumphal Bridge and James King Mausoleum. In the case of the Chatham Mausoleum, Soane borrowed from Peyre's plan for a sepulchral chapel, however, eventually he decided to elongate the chapel in order to provide greater space for internments. He grafted on to the centralised shape a long niche-like projection reminiscent of the Serapaeum of Hadrian's Villa.
The entire evolution of the design is an excellent instance of Soane's eclectic design process at work and other Soane mausoleum designs relate to the Chatham one, including a British Pantheon.
Soane had previously drawn upon ideas from Peyre 1765 for the Triumphal Bridge and James King Mausoleum. In the case of the Chatham Mausoleum, Soane borrowed from Peyre's plan for a sepulchral chapel, however, eventually he decided to elongate the chapel in order to provide greater space for internments. He grafted on to the centralised shape a long niche-like projection reminiscent of the Serapaeum of Hadrian's Villa.
The entire evolution of the design is an excellent instance of Soane's eclectic design process at work and other Soane mausoleum designs relate to the Chatham one, including a British Pantheon.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink with pencil and grey wash. |
| Brief description | Plan of the ground floor for the Earl of Chatham Mausoleum by Sir John Soane, 1778-1781. |
| Physical description | Plan of the ground floor. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | Plan/Early drawing by Sir J. Soane/Mausoleum/J. Soane (Inscribed on page.) |
| Object history | Historical significance: The entire evolution of the design is an excellent instance of Soane's eclectic design process at work and other Soane mausoleum designs relate to the Chatham one, including a British Pantheon. This drawing was pasted into a copy of John Soane's book Designs for Public and Private Buildings owned by Soane’s assistant Charles James Richardson. Richardson built up a large collection of originals and copies (many of which he executed himself) of his master's designs, and distributed the bulk of them into two folio volumes, interspersed with the printed pages of the book. These volumes were bought by the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in 1863. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Associations | |
| Summary | This plan of the ground floor forms part of the design by Sir John Soane for the Mausoleum of Earl Chatham. It was completed between 1778 and 1781 while Soane was travelling in Italy in the company of Grand Tourists who had admired Chatham. Soane had previously drawn upon ideas from Peyre 1765 for the Triumphal Bridge and James King Mausoleum. In the case of the Chatham Mausoleum, Soane borrowed from Peyre's plan for a sepulchral chapel, however, eventually he decided to elongate the chapel in order to provide greater space for internments. He grafted on to the centralised shape a long niche-like projection reminiscent of the Serapaeum of Hadrian's Villa. The entire evolution of the design is an excellent instance of Soane's eclectic design process at work and other Soane mausoleum designs relate to the Chatham one, including a British Pantheon. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | du Prey, P. de la Ruffinière. Sir John Soane: Catalogues of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1985 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 3307:13 |
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| Record created | February 9, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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