Sir John Soane
1 portrait
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© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Sir John Soane
by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
pencil, circa 1827
18 5/8 in. x 25 3/8 in. (473 mm x 645 mm)
Given by Mrs George Jones, 1871
Primary Collection
NPG 316a(111)
Artistback to top
- Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1781-1841), Sculptor. Artist or producer associated with 267 portraits, Sitter in 11 portraits.
This portraitback to top
'whether the bust I have made shall be considered like John Soane, or Julius Caesar, is a point that cannot be determined by you or me, I will however, maintain that as a work of art I have never produced a better.' Sir Francis Chantrey to Sir John Soane, 1829
This drawing of the architect Sir John Soane was made for a marble bust that Chantrey gave Soane in exchange for the design of an anteroom to Chantrey's sculpture gallery. Soane placed the bust among his collection of classical antiquities at his home in Lincoln's Inn Fields, now the Sir John Soane Museum. Soane was one of the most important and influential architects of the period, designing the Bank of England and Dulwich Picture Gallery. Chantrey often asked Soane's advice on matters of artistic design.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 573
- Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 465, 624
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Creative Connections Year 2: Ealing (17 June 2014 - 21 September 2014)
- From Pencil to Chisel: Sir Francis Chantrey's Portrait Drawings (2 April 2011 - 20 November 2011)
Portrait setback to top
Events of 1827back to top
Current affairs
Lord Liverpool suffers a stroke and is forced to resign as Prime Minister. George Canning succeeds him only to die after four months in office.Art and science
University College London, the first metropolitan university in England, is founded specifically to educate dissenters excluded from Oxford and Cambridge. Whig politician Henry Brougham, writer Thomas Campbell and financier and philanthropist Isaac Goldsmid are its principal patrons.International
Britain, France and Russia sign a treaty in London agreeing to intervene in the Greek War of Independence. Allied troops under General Edward Codrington subsequently destroy Turkish and Egyptian fleets at the Battle of Navarino.Western Australia is explored for the first time by Captain Stirling.
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