Book Description

Sir John Soane (1753-1837), the son of a bricklayer, rose to become one of England's greatest architects as well a remarkably astute collector of objects and works of art. His house, in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London, was bequeathed to the British nation by a private Act of Parliament in 1833 for the benefit of "Amateurs and Students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture", and the building itself and the collections within now comprise a unique, and extremely popular, public museum. Soane was at the very center of artistic activity in late Georgian England, and his collections reveal the intellectual preoccupations of his day. Amassed over his long lifetime during his travels and from his friends and professional contacts, they include paintings by Hogarth and Turner; Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities; Chinese ceramics; and a vast number of drawings, clocks, models, furniture, gems, jewelry, manuscripts, and other objets d'art that reveal the breadth of Soane's tastes and interests. This handsome book focuses on more than 120 works from Soane's collections, ranging from paintings and sculpture to a watch given by Queen Anne to Sir Christopher Wren. Peter Thornton, Curator of Sir John Soane's Museum, and his research assistant, Helen Dorey, have written lively commentaries to the 130 illustrations, 99 in full color, providing information about the objects themselves and their history, and at the same time shedding light on Soane's life, character, and cultural pursuits. Soane prepared his museum personally, spending huge sums of money and gathering items for their intrinsic value, their appearance, or their associations. His goal was to create a poetic setting, using architectureto evoke the spirit of antiquity. For this reason he arranged his collections not didactically by periods or cultures, but rather mingled together, offering a springboard for the imagination. Sir John Soane: The Architect as Collector is the first book to focus purely on the collections of this working architect, who acquired his treasures as an anthology of antique architecture and decoration and whose hope was that future generations would find in them a source of reference and inspiration.