Sir John Soane's Museum

Purpose:	Re-drawings of design B in a Classical style, 1811 or after, ?1820 (2)
Aspect	3-4 Plan (with revisions) and elevation. The plan (the same as in drawings 1 and 2 though the proportions are different) with 3 identical wings centred on a rotunda within a circular exercise yard; pencil revisions (by Soane) to the perimeter wall extend it and add an entrance and a small building (store?). For the elevation Soane used (below the dome) the frieze found at the Temple of Vesta, Tivoli, exchanging dog heads for bucrania while the baseless, fluted Greek columns come from Paestum. The drum has a sculpted frieze depicting a fox hunt, the dome is crowned by a finial made up of hounds, the enclosing wall has more friezes of scenes of the chase and supports sculpted hounds, pairs of sculpted hounds sitting on pedestals below heraldic arms flanked by hounds and two living hounds drink from a basin with fountain
Scale	to a scale
Inscribed	(3) Romae 1779 and (red pen) 108; (4) Romae 1779 and (red pen) 107 ; plan labelled: Groom, G[room], Triumphal Ent.[rance], Airing / room, a dog / Ken:[nel] ma-[illegible] / Ro--- [illegible], Apartments
Dated/date range	datable to 1811 or after (watermark), possibly 1820
Medium/Support/Size	Pen, grey-green, sepia, pink and blue washes with single ruled and black wash border; pen, grey-blue, sepia, burnt umber and green washes with single ruled and black wash border on laid paper; on thick wove paper (639 x 783, 705 x 127)
Watermark	(3) J Whatman 1811
Hand	office, Soane revisions
Literature	P. du Prey, John Soane's architectural education 1753-80, 1977, pp.159-162; P. du Prey, 'Je n'oublieray jamais: John Soane and Downhill', Quarterly Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society, XXI Nos 3&4, 1978, pp.19-20; M.Richardson & M.Stevens (eds), John Soane architect: master of space and light, 1999, p.107 (where it states drawn by C.J.Richardson c.1835 but a check of the Soane Museum's 1837 Inventory found no evidence that he had made this elevation c.1835); D.Guinness, 'An Unpublished watercolour by James Malton from the collection of Desmond Guinness', Journal of the Irish Georgian Society, V, 2003, pp. 226-37
Reference	SM 14/4/1, 14/4/2
Notes	The original drawings for design B have not survived. These record drawings were, from the evidence of the watermark of the plan, made in 1811 or afterwards. Pencil notes on the verso suggest that they illustrated his lectures for a more general audience at the Royal Institution, c.1820. Soane's notes for those lectures - Extracts from different authors, drawings wanted and buildings compared (Soane case 159) has an entry for 22 June 1820 with a very rough plan (pen) labelled : A design to introduce Grecian arch. into the Chinese / dominions & to show how arch. may be abused / 22 June 1820 / Make a large drawing of a design / for an Imperial / dog kennel / Stud of horses / Master of the / Buck hounds / Master of the / Horse This design is inscribed to the / King of the Dandies - / In Russia the peasants / on an estate are considered / as making a part of / the purchase / Approach see Bagaria (Bagheria, Villa Palagonia, Sicily). Plan labelled: Groom, G[room], Triumphal Ent.[rance], Airing / room, a dog / Ken:[nel] ma- (illegible) / Ro--- (illegible) / for / the Master of / (?) Horse or Hounds, M[en] / Hotel for / Master of / (?) All--- (illegible), Apartments Given the lapse of time between 1778 and 1811-20 , it possible that Soane re-designed his scheme for a a doghouse in a Classical style and that these drawings are copies of a later, partly revised design. The lithograph plate (xxxiv**) in Designs for Public and Private Buildings* (1828) shows an elevation for design B as well as a plan and elevation for design A. Comparing the latter with drawing 1 it can be seen that the plain ashlar facade now has banded rustication, the dome is ribbed and the cupola omitted,and the round arched doorways are emphasised by an incised line finished in a Greek key motif - a decoration used later in Soane's career. Of the archaeological sources, the frieze from the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli could have been known from visits, the dates of which are not recorded in Soane's Italian sketchbook. In any case, Soane would have known the building and its details from George Dance's drawings. Paestum was seen by Soane on 26-27 January and 14-16 February 1779 (see Italian sketchbook with notes, 1779, volume 39) though his visits may have come after the presentation of his two designs to the Bishop of Derry 'soon after' 29 December 1778. However, he could have known of Paestum from engravings or possibly the first published book on the subject, The Ruins of Pœstum (1767).
Date	30 01 2006