bluestocking
Fate has not
been kind to
Sir John Soane
(1753-1837).
He may have
been the most
sir john
soane’s
museum
,
london
influential architect of his day—enjoying plum
commissions like remodeling the Bank of England—
but his grand neoclassical works have suffered a fate
typically commensurate of an aging rock star, falling
victim to changing fashions, changing fortunes not to
mention being the victim of fire and German bombs.
And he might have been lost to the dusty halls of
history were it not for his London house-museum,
which remains intact and open to the public, and the
latest volume from the museum’s director, Tim Knox:
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London. Comprising three
terraced houses reworked into one, the sprawling
Knox, photography by Derry Moore, 2009, Merrell,
merrellpublishers.com49
residence in Lincoln’s Inn Fields served as Soane’s
home and testing ground for architectural ideas.
More importantly, it was also the repository for his
jaw-dropping assemblage of art, antiquities and
architectural salvage.
Soane possessed a voracious appetite for the old
and the odd. And in his house, plaster casts and
pediments jockey for space with Roman busts and
ancient wine-mixing vessels. Oil paintings by satirist
William Hogarth hang alongside landscapes by family
friend J.M.W. Turner. Indian court furniture sits
amid shelves of books (Soane had over 7,000 tomes),
while in the basement lays the alabaster sarcophagus
of Egyptian King Seti I, which dates to c. 1279 B.C.
Derry Moore beautifully photographs these
ensembles, providing a valuable way to capture each
element. Crammed from ceiling to floor, they create
visual overload; the eye ping-pongs from item to
item. With this first major illustrated guide, your
gaze is controlled with keyhole views that allow
readers to appreciate Soane’s embarrassment of riches
for what they are: a timeless treasure trove n Julie
Taraska~Sir John Soane’s Museum London, by Tim
