John Soane - The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour

His travelling companion was Robert Furze Brettingham, they travelled via Paris, where they visited Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, they went onto the Palace of Versailles on the 29 March. They finally reached Rome on 2 May 1778. Soane wrote home 'my attention is entirely taken up in the seeing and examining the numerous and inestimable remains of Antiquity...'. Soane's first dated drawing is 21 May of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura. Soane's former classmate, the architect Thomas Hardwick returned to Rome in June from Naples. He and Soane would produced a series of measured drawings and ground plans of Roman buildings together. During the summer they visited Hadrian's Villa and the Temple of Vesta, Tivoli, back in Rome they investigated the Colosseum. In August Soane was working on a design for a British Senate House to be submitted for the 1779 Royal Academy summer exhibition.

In the autumn he met the builder and Bishop of Derry, Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol. The Earl presented copies of I quattro libri dell'architettura and De architectura to Soane. In December the Earl introduced Soane to Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford this would lead eventually to architectural commissions. The Earl persuaded Soane to accompany him to Naples setting off from Rome on 22 December 1778. On the way they visited Capua and the Palace of Caserta arriving in Naples on 29 December. It was in Naples that Soane met two future clients, John Patteson and Richard Bosanquet. From Naples Soane made several excursions including: Pozzuoli, Cumae, Pompeii where he met yet another future client Philip Yorke. Soane also attended a performance at Teatro di San Carlo and climbed Mount Vesuvius. Visiting Paestum, Soane was deeply impressed by the Greek temples. Next he visited the Certosa di Padula, then on to Eboli and Salerno and its cathedral. Later they visited Benevento and Herculaneum. The Earl and Soane left for Rome on 12 March 1779, travelling via Capua; Gaeta; the Pontine Marshes; Velletri; Alban Hills and Lake Albano; Castel Gandolfo. Back in Rome they visited the Palazzo Barberini, and witnessed the celebrations of Holy Week. Shortly after the Earl and his family departed for home, followed a few weeks later by Thomas Hardwick.

It was now that Soane met Maria Hadfield (they became lifelong friends) and Thomas Banks, Soane was now fairly fluent in the Italian language. Signs of his growing confidence. It was now that a party of British men, Thomas Bowdler, Rowland Burdon, John Patteson, John Stuart and Henry Grewold Lewis, decided to visit Sicily and paid for Soane to accompany them as a draughtsman. The party headed for Naples on 11 April, where on 21 April they caught a Swedish ship to Palermo. Soane visited the Villa Palagonia, which made a deep impact on him. Leaving Palermo from where the party split, Stuart and Bowlder going off together. The rest headed for Segesta, Trapani, Selinunte and Agrigento, exposing Soane to Ancient Greek architecture. From Agrigento the party headed for Licata, where they sailed for Malta and Valletta returning on 2 June, to Syracuse, Sicily. Moving on to Catania and Palazzo Biscari then Mount Etna, Taormina, Messina and the Lepari Islands. They were back in Naples by 2 July where Soane purchased books and prints, visiting Sorrento before returning to Rome. Shortly after John Patterson returned to England via Vienna, from where he sent Soane the first six volumes of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, delivered by Antonio Salieri.

In Rome Soane's circle now included Henry Tresham, Thomas Jones (artist) and Nathaniel Marchant. Soane continued to study the buildings of Rome, including the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Soane and Rowland Burdon set out in August for Lombardy. Their journey include visits to Ancona, Rimini, Bologna, Parma and its Accademia, Milan, Verona, Vicenza and its buildings by Andrea Palladio, Padua, the Brenta (river) with its villas by Palladio, Venice. Then back to Bologna where Soane copied designs for completing the west front of San Petronio Basilica including ones by Palladio, Vignola and Baldassare Peruzzi. Then to Florence and the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno of which he was later, in January 1780 elected a member; then returned to Rome.

Soane continued his study of buildings, including Villa Lante, Palazzo Farnese, Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, the Capitoline Museums and the Villa Albani. That autumn he met Henry Bankes, Soane prepared plans for the Banke's house Kingston Lacy, but these came to nothing. Early in 1780 Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol wrote to Soane offering him various architectural commissions, Soane decided to return to England and began to organise his return journey. He left Rome on 19 April 1780, travelling with the Reverend George Holgate and his pupil Michael Pepper. They visited the Villa Farnese, then on to Siena. Then Florence where they visited the Palazzo Pitti, Uffizi, Santo Spirito, Florence, Giotto's Campanile and other sites. Performing at the Teatro della Pergola was Nancy Storace with whom Soane formed a lifelong friendship. Their journey continued on via Bologna, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua where he sketched Palazzo del Te, Parma, Piacenza. Milan where he attended La Scala, the theatre was a growing interest, Lake Como from where they began their crossing of the Alps via the Splügen Pass. They then passed on to Zurich, Reichenau, Switzerland, Wettingen, Schaffhausen, Basel on the way to which the bottom of Soane's trunk came loose on the coach and spilled the contents behind it, he thus lost many of his books, drawings, drawing instruments, clothes and his gold and silver medals from the Royal Academy (none of which was recovered). He continued his journey on to Freiburg im Breisgau, Cologne, Liège, Leuven and Brussels before embarking for England.