The buildings of the eighteenth-century Architect Sir John Soane were distinguished by a sensitive approach to daylighting and the character of the luminous environment. His designs, particularly those for his own London house, now the Soane Museum, are noted for their novel lighting effects which still influence current architectural practice and theory.
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References
1.
Bolton A.T.The Portrait of Sir John Soane, RA (London) 1927)
2.
Soane J.Letter (Soane Museum Archives) (13 June 1807)
3.
Stroud D.The Architecture of Sir John Soane (London) (1961) Soane's salary as Architect and Surveyor to the Bank of England was 'a commission of five per cent on the half yearly total expenditure on building work except on the rare occasions involving extra work such as illumination or banquets.' There appears to be little information on Soane's 'extra work on illumination' other than the Colza lamps which can be seen in replica in the Bank of England Museum.
4.
Summerson Sir John Soane 1753-1837 (London ) (1952)
5.
Laugier M.A Essai sur L'Architecture (Paris) ( 1755) This book was known to both Soane and Dance. The former owned no less than eleven copies of various editions and translations. Laugier recommends the omission of cornices or eaves in certain circumstances and is not in favour of unnecessary ornamentation. I suspect that Soane strips away ornament and detail in a way that Laugier would have found extreme.
6.
Summerson J.Soane: the Man and the Style in John Soane pp 9-23 (London: Academy Editions) ( 1983)
7.
In 1988 as an adjunct to the main display areas of the new museum, the architects Higgins, Gardner and partners have attempted a faithful reproduction including local luminaires at counter level which are replicas of the original Colza oil lamps, supposedly designed by Soane. The result is, however, curiously lifeless.
8.
Soane had already designed a Mausoleum for these coffins in Charlotte Street in London. It was commissioned by Bourgeois to house, in a freestanding sarcophagus, the coffin of Desenfans, who had an aversion to the idea ot being buried in the ground. Space was left for the subsequent placing of the coffins of Mrs. Desenfans and Bourgeois himself. When they died, however, Dulwich had been completed so that their coffins were housed in the new Mausoleum. The original mausoleum building has been destroyed.
9.
Soane's lectures to the Royal Academy No.VIII in Watkins D Sir John Soane: Enlightenment thought and the Royal Academy lectures ( Cambridge University Press1996) This is the most recent and thorough of a number of publications of the lectures.
10.
Riley B.Colour for the Painter in Lamb T and Bourriau J (eds) Colour: Art and Science pp 31-65 (Cambridge University Press) (1995)
11.
Soane J.Memoirs of professional life of an architect between the years 1768 and 1835 written by hipriself (London) ( 1835)
12.
Hazlitt W.The picture galleries of England (London) ( 1823)
13.
Farrington J.Diary 31 August 1814 ed. Garlick K et al. (New Haven/ London) (1978)
14.
Bolton A.T.The works of Sir John Soane, RA (London) ( 1924) In 1829 the work was completed at a cost of £150.
15.
Board minutes of the Picture Gallery Committee (2 February 1858)
16.
Waterfield G.Soane and after, the architecture of Dulwich Picture Gallery ( London: Dulwich Picture Gallery) ( 1987)
17.
'Stone has been employed to form a flimsy-looking fabric whose frame is scarcely thicker than a wall of stout planks' was one of the kinder comments.
18.
Summerson J.A new description of Sir John Soane's Museum ( London: Sir John Soane's Museum) ( 1972) This reference sets out the Act of Parliament of 1833 'Settling and preserving Sir John Soane's Museum, Library and works of Art ... for the Benefit of the public.' The Act stipulated that 'the Trusteees and their successors shall not (except in the case of absolute necessity) suffer the arrangements in which the said Museum ... shall be left ... to be altered.'
19.
Soane J.Description of the house and museum on the North side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London (London) (1835)
20.
Watkin D.Soane and his contemporaries in John Soane pp 40-61 (London : Academy Editions) (1983)
21.
RosenauH(ed) Boullée's Treatise on Architecture (Paris) (1957)
22.
du Prey P de la RSir John Soane: Catalogues of architectural drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (London : Victoria and Albert Museum) ( 1985 )
23.
Notable exceptions were Alvar and Einio Aalto who used their own house near Helsinki in Finlnd as a testbed for the use of materials and construction details.
24.
Soane's notebooks (Soane Museum) ( 1815 )
25.
Wightwick G.The life of an architect - My sojourn at Bath - The late Sir John Soane Bentley's Miscellany 34108-114 (1853 )
26.
Trevor-Roper P The world through blunted sight ( London: Penguin) (1970) The author discusses artists who have suffered cataract trouble such as Monet, Daumier and Mary Cassat, and he thinks probably Rouault and Turner.
27.
Soane J.Description of the house and museum on the North side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London (London) (1935) Soane quotes her within his own description of the museum.
28.
Kiebreich R.Turner and Mulready - On the effect of certain faults of vision on painting, with especial reference to their works No. Proc. Royal Institution6450 (1872) The author describes how the artist 'Mulready had painted two pictures, one in 1836 and the other in 1857. Both are essentially the same subject, but if we look at the second picture through a yellow glass the difference between the two almost entirely disappears as the glass corrects the faults of the picture.'
29.
Hopkinson and Kay The lighting of buildings Plates 11-13 (Faber) (1969)
30.
Phillips D.Soane Museum in Lighting historic buildings (London : Architectural Press) (1997)
31.
Hesselgren S.The Language of Architecture ( Barking, Essex: Applied Science) ( 1972)
32.
Berger J.Ways of Seeing (London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin) (1972)
