Architectural Drawings: Hidden Masterpieces from Sir John Soane's Museum

Description

A visual and comprehensive compilation of some the finest architectural drawings from Sir John Soane's extensive collection. Architectural Drawings casts light on the magnificent architectural drawings of neo-classical architect, teacher and collector, Sir John Soane that are otherwise concealed in archives. This book, featuring artworks handpicked from what was probably the first comprehensive collection of architectural drawings in the world, numbering 30,000 at the time of his death in 1837, celebrates a life spent procuring curiosities. The collection encompasses the hands of Montano, Thorpe, Wren, Talman, Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh, Gibbs, Kent, Chambers, Adam, Clerisseau, Pecheux, Wyatt, Playfair, Nash and, of course, Soane himself. The quality of Soane's collection of drawings is scarcely paralleled elsewhere and on account of their fragility, these items are infrequently seen by the public. This innovative book draws together the most exquisite and important works from the collection for the first time, showing the extraordinary connoisseurship of Sir John Soane while also exploring what drove Soane to amass such a collection and the provenance of his various significant acquisitions. This book illustrates the story of Soane as a collector of architectural drawings, but a story which is not normally available to the public, and will provide a sumptuous opportunity to peruse some of the finest architectural drawings in existence.

Dr Frances Sands is Curator of Drawings and Books at Sir John Soane's Museum in London where she has worked since 2010. Fran's research interests focus on architectural drawings from Georgian Britain. In 2010 she was appointed as Catalogue Editor at the Soane Museum, with responsibility for cataloguing the office drawings collection of Robert and James Adam. In 2016 she was promoted to Curator of Drawings and Books, taking responsibility for the Soane Museum's collection of 30,000 drawings and 7,000 books, as well as supervising the Soane Museum research library and drawings cataloguing projects. She lectures and is published widely. Fran has also served as a Trustee of the York Georgian Society, the Mausolea and Monuments Trust and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband Danny and their son Rufus.

'A unique resource, both of the draughtsman who made them and of architectural history as a whole' -- Inigo 'The book has a value both to the connoisseur, who will delight in the feast of technical mastery that is on display, and also to a more general reader for whom the detailed illustrations and Sands's engaging and informative commentary serve as the perfect introduction to the art of architectural drawing. At a mere GBP35, this book is impossible to resist.' -- William Aslet * Apollo Review * 'Totally indulgent' * Catholic Herald *