Sir John Soane's Museum at Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Soane was born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, and died after a long and distinguished architectural career (he designed the Bank Of England) in 1837. He designed the house to live in, but also as a setting for antiquities and works of art. After the death of his wife (1815), he lived here alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections. Having been disappointed by the conduct of his two sons, he decided to establish the house as a museum to which‘amateurs and students’ should have access.
Every square inch of the place is filled with mouldings, paintings, statues and objets trouvees thus the splendid house becomes really crowded. The highlights are the Egyptian sarcophagus of Seti I and, best of all, the Picture Room, with its theatrical reveal of hidden walls. Here you’ll find Hogarth’s ‘The Rake’s Progress’ and his ‘Election’ paintings.
It is surprising to know that he is a great archetect then a devoted collector.
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