Collection

Focus: House and collection of Sir John Soane (1753-1837). A static collection, but may occasionally add to Library, Drawings Collection or Archive. Consists of: antiquities (Greek, Roman, Egyptian), 18th and early 19th-century paintings and sculpture; furniture; plaster casts; 30,000 architectural drawings (15th-19th centuries); documents/correspondence; models; building fragments; ephemera all collected by Sir John Soane and preserved as they were arranged at the time of his death in 1837. Strengths: collection of 30,000 architectural drawings, including Soane’s own & 9,000 by Robert Adam and many by William Chambers and George Dance the younger; the ancient Egyptian sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti 1st; two series of Hogarth paintings (A Rake’s Progress and An Election); paintings by Canaletto and Turner; original drawings by Piranesi; architectural models, including early 19th century cork models; Soane’s papers and those of subsequent curators; authentic interiors of Soane house; information files on Soane’s work & that of other architects whose drawings are in the collection. Collection accessible through via website: www.soane.org/collections. Collection enquiries or request for library appointments to see drawings to library@soane.org.uk or (if about objects) worksofart@soane.org.uk Institution employs conservators.

Library Holdings

Holdings: Soane’s library of 8,000 volumes (all pre-1837); small collection of modern reference works, architectural drawings (see above) available in Research Library where items from Soane’s Archive may also be consulted by appointment.