Sketched half-section and half-elevation of a dome with a 32-bay peristyle and an octagonal lower drum

WRE/5/2/3

c.1692–94

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Nicholas (c.1662–1736) Hawksmoor

Pen and brown ink over grey wash and pencil under-drawing. Thick laid paper. 47.5 x 33.3 cm. Watermark: Strasbourg lily WR.

Study for a dome with a 32-bay peristyle on a low drum, in half-section and half-elevation. Drawn by Hawksmoor, but probably with some pencil-work by Wren. Datable c.1692-94. Implied scale, 20 ft to 1 inch. The technique of grey wash shading over pencil, supplemented by ink outlines, is characteristic of Hawksmoor’s hand from the mid-1690s onwards (see WRE/4/2/1-3; Geraghty 2007, p.13, no.96; Higgott 2009, pp.164-65). The pen shading displays his thin, close-set, ruled and freehand lines; see WRE/5/1/3. The study is the earliest to incorporate a 32-bay peristyle with every fourth bay infilled as a pier mass. Drawn in grey wash over pencil is a scheme for a two-shell version of the dome, the inner one ovoid in shape. This scheme was revised in brown ink by the addition of an inner dome, and then refined in larger-scale pencil and pen-and-wash sections, WRE/5/2/1 (reverse) and WRE/5/2/4. The ovoid dome has a steep segmental profile created by striking an arc from a ruled-pencil baseline at the top of the inner entablature, at a point on the fourth column to the right of the central axis. It replaces the usual hemispherical inner dome and shares support for the lantern with a thin outer shell, probably intended to be built in lead-clad timber. Hawksmoor’s ink numbers give the diameter of the columns (3 ft), the depth of the peristyle wall (5 ft) and the depth of the window reveal and internal pilaster combined (4 ft). The short lower loop of the ‘5’ is a distinctive feature of his hand (see Higgott 2004b, pp.539-40). Thick pencil, probably by Wren, has been used for profiles and amendments, including two slots for iron chains and heavy shading across the lower part of the roof on the right. The latter is a further revision of the line of the roof in relation to the drum and was adopted at the next stage, WRE/5/2/4. The brown-ink additions include rectangular panels on the faces of the pier masses and a broader, lower attic above the peristyle. Other design elements are expressed only in pencil or wash: (i) top right, the plan of the octagonal lantern at the level of the brackets; (ii) within the peristyle, scroll-like radial buttresses; (iii) bottom left, the void in the lower drum lit by the window in the diagonal bay, with the line of a radial buttress indicated beyond the outer wall; and (iv) below left, an outline quarter-plan of the drum. Reverse: Two very rough pencil sketches: a domical form in elevation and a circular drum with a columnar opening in part-plan. Also, a pencil calculation by Hawksmoor which adds 40, 2, 9, 13, 1 and 20 to give a total of 85.

Access to the Wren office drawings held at London Metropolitan Archives is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Heritage Services Director, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB.

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WRE/4/2/1, WRE/4/2/2, WRE/4/2/3, WRE/5/1/3, WRE/2/2/8, WRE/5/3/8