The union of architecture, sculpture, and painting; exemplified by a series of illustrations, with descriptive accounts of the house and galleries of John Soane / By John Britton.

  • John Britton
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The union of architecture, sculpture, and painting; exemplified by a series of illustrations, with descriptive accounts of the house and galleries of John Soane / By John Britton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    HOUSE AND MUSEUM OF JOHN SOANE. 7 placing his large collection of books in a separate department of the British Museum, bequeathed them to the Bodleian library at Oxford. There they are rarely resorted to, and consequently of little use; here they would have been in daily requisition, and have proved highly beneficial to the public. Of the Dulwich Gallery I wrote a short account, for my esteemed friend Mr. Bray, to introduce into his last volume of the History &c. of Surrey. Two drawings of Views in India, by Hodges; several drawings by Clerisseau ; one by Barratt; another by Turner; a picture by Angelica Kauffman; four by Piranesi, and numerous others. Of the Books in this collection it will be foreign to the intention of this essay to enter into any thing like a Catalogue Raisonné. The library is very extensive, and contains a fine and very valuable collection an Architecture, in particular, as well as on the other branches of the fine arts. Not only all the works of the English authors, but most of the valuable writings and illustrations of the Italian, French, German, and even Russian artists and literati are assembled together here.— Mr. Soane has also many original drawings and manuscripts by Italian and French artists, by Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh, Sir William Chambers, &c.; besides several volumes richly illustrated. NATIONAL DEBT REDEMPTION OFFICE, OLD JEWRY,—AND THE ROYAL GALLERY TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS. As connected with the subject of interior decoration, and as examples of Mr. Soane’s style of design in architectural compositions, it has been thought proper to intro- duce, in this place, illustrations of the National Debt Redemption Office, and of the Royal Gallery to the House of Lords. The former of these buildings has been selected rather as exhibiting the more striking peculiarities of the architect's style, than as a specimen of his best works. There is undeniably much that is fanciful and beautiful in the arrangement, and much that is both original and tasteful. This will be apparent even to the uneducated eye, on examining the plans, section, and the view, annexed. The plan of the ground floor, No. 1.; of the dome-room, or inner vestibule, No. 2.; and of the dome itself, No. 3, are evidences of an inventive and poetical mind, eager to discover novelty, and to produce pleasing and impressive effects. The arrangement of the plan provides for all the accommodations of the establishment; and at the same time invests a public office with the beauties of 1
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