Studies for the crossing and transept ends, 1675

WRE/2/2

10 drawings

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Microsoft Sans Serif;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue128;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\cf1\f0\fs20 The ten drawings in this group illustrate at least seven stages in the design of the crossing and transept ends. All are datable before or shortly after work began on the foundations of the eastern arm and east side of the crossing space on 21 June 1675. By this time Wren must have fixed the plan at church-floor level between the apse and the west side of the crossing, as the dimensions of the central and outer aisles, crossing piers, bastions and external walls would have affected the layout at crypt level. \par \par The earliest known plan of the crossing and dome leading up to the built design is WRE/2/2/1. Drawn by Wren, it is a companion to WRE/2/2/2, a laid-out elevation to the same scale, with his pencil preparatory work, but with pen-work by Woodroofe. This elevation explores the treatment of the diagonal bay at church-floor and triforium levels. Both drawings relate closely to a diagonal section of the crossing and dome at All Souls, known as the \lquote Penultimate design\rquote (Geraghty 2007, no. 77; see Section 2, Introduction, fig. 5) \par \par WRE/2/2/3 and WRE/2/2/4 are working and finished drawings for the south-east bastion at crypt and church-floor levels, drawn by Wren and Woodroofe collaboratively. They examine the structure of the internal staircase in detail and take the design as high as the pilasters of the smaller Composite order on the main piers, bastions and aisle walls. As in WRE/2/2/1, these pilasters are grouped more closely in pairs than in the fabric (7 ft rather than 8 ft across); and as in WRE/2/2/2, their imposts are treated as a single cornice rather than as a combined cornice and upper fascia. \par \par The next stage is represented by Wren\rquote s study for the aisle elevation of a bastion wall facing a crossing pier, WRE/2/2/5. In this drawing, Wren lengthened the wall defined by the paired pilasters from 27 ft 6 inches to 28 ft and grouped the pilasters more widely (8 ft across). The design progressed upwards in all its details in two neatly drawn studies for the transept end, inside and out: WRE/2/2/6 and 7. In WRE/2/2/6 the external Corinthian order and the smaller internal Composite order, including its impost, are now almost exactly as built, but the overall proportions are taller and narrower than in the fabric. The width to the outer walls scales at 119 ft, 1 ft less than the Warrant design and 2 ft less than built; the aisles are 18 ft wide between the pilaster responds, 1 ft narrower than built and the same as in WRE/2/1/1; the main internal pilasters are 1 ft 3 inches taller than in the fabric; and the transept door opening is 9 ft rather than 10 ft wide. This door was not widened until Wren revised the portico wall of the transept in 1678 (see WRE/2/4). \par \par WRE/2/2/8 is the earliest known quarter-plan of the crossing after WRE/2/2/1. Drawn by the unidentified draughtsman, it shows the crossing piers with the more broadly spaced pairs of pilasters first seen on WRE/2/2/5. However, the plan of the semi-dome over the diagonal bay is unresolved, as it does not appear to be carried on the innermost pilasters of the crossing piers and bastions. \par \par WRE/2/2/9 is a quarter-plan of the cathedral at church-floor level in the same hand, but overlaid in a grey wash. The wash was probably added in 1752 by Henry Flitcroft, to whom the drawing has previously been attributed. In fact, the drawing records a final stage in the design of the crossing piers and bastion walls in 1675, for it incorporates extra pilasters on the inner ends of the piers and bastions to support to the semi-dome over the diagonal bay. The drawing appears to pre-date the start of construction as the wall around the east end is about 1 ft too thick. \par \par Wren refined the treatment of the crossing piers and diagonal bay in another quarter-plan in the same hand, WRE/2/2/10. More accurate than the two previous drawings, this is the first to show wall masses at triforium level, above the bastions and piers. \par \par This final stage in the design of the crossing is embodied in a corrected version of this drawing in the same hand, WRE/5/2/4. Hawksmoor reused this drawing in the mid-1690s to present alternative, eighth-part plans for the drum and peristyle of the dome.\fs16\par }

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