New Book | John Soane’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Forthcoming from Yale UP:
Bruce Boucher, John Soane’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Reflections on an Architect and His Collection (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-0300275698, £35 / $45.
An in-depth study that sheds a fascinating new light on Sir John Soane (1753–1837) and his world-renowned collection
Sir John Soane’s architecture has enjoyed a revival of interest over the last seventy years, yet Soane as a collector—the strategy behind and motivation for Soane’s bequest to the nation—has remained largely unexplored. While Soane referred to the display of objects in his house and museum as “studies for my own mind,” he never explained what he meant by this, and the ambiguity surrounding his motivation remains perennially fascinating. This book illuminates a side of Soane’s personality unfamiliar to most students of his life and work by examining key strands in his collection and what they reveal about Soane and the psychology of collecting. Topics include the display of antiquities; his fascination with ruins, both literal and figurative; his singular response to Gothic architecture; and his investment in modern British painting and sculpture. These aspects are bookended by an introductory biographical chapter that highlights the ways in which his family and career informed his collecting habits as well as an epilogue that analyses the challenges of turning a private house and collection into a public museum.
Bruce Boucher is an art historian and curator who served as director of Sir John Soane’s Museum from 2016 to 2023. Specializing in Italian Renaissance, Baroque, and Neo-classical art and architecture, he is the author of a number of books, including The Sculpture of Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea Palladio: The Architect in his Time, and Earth and Fire: Italian Terracotta Sculpture from Donatello to Canova.
Tour and Talk | Pitzhanger Manor
From Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery:
Collecting in 18th-Century London’s Grand Houses: Pitzhanger Manor, Orleans House, and More
Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, London, 2 May 2024, 5.30–9pm
John Soane, Pitzhanger Manor, Walpole Park, Ealing, London, 1800–04 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, April 2008).
Experience the first-ever in-person event presented by London Luminaries
The evening will include guided tours of Pitzhanger Manor, showcasing Sir John Soane’s architectural marvels, followed by an enlightening talk. Experts in historic estates—Clare Gough, Director of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery; Tim Corum, Head of Richmond Arts Service; and Emily Burns, Curator of Collections and Interiors for English Heritage—will illuminate the art of collecting in 18th-century London, offering insights into the prestigious collections in Pitzhanger Manor, Orleans House, Marble Hill, Chiswick House, and more. Join us for an evening of history, art, and connectivity.
• Guided tours of the house commence at either 5.30 or 6pm. Guests are welcome to explore freely should they wish to arrive earlier or attend solely for the talk, which starts at 6.45.
• Tickets are £12, with all profits supporting the London Luminaries properties, an initiative born during the COVID lockdown to enhance connections between properties and people.
• Drinks and refreshments will be available for purchase at Soane’s Garden Room until 9pm, not included in the ticket price.
Pitzhanger Manor was the country home of Sir John Soane, one of the most influential architects in British history. Soane designed many extraordinary buildings, but Pitzhanger is unique as a building because it was designed, built and lived in by Soane himself. Following a major three-year conservation project, Pitzhanger reopened in March 2019. The Manor has been revitalised to take it back to Soane’s original designs, its extraordinary architecture restored for the public to see. Pitzhanger Gallery, housed in the 1939 library building, has been improved to allow for major loans and a series of contemporary exhibitions by artists, architects, and designers.
Emily Burns is the Curator of Collections & Interiors (West London) for English Heritage. Properties in her portfolio include Marble Hill, Chiswick House, and the Jewel Tower. Previously, she was a Curator at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village (2021–23), Vivmar Curatorial Fellow at the National Gallery (2018–20), and Assistant Curator at the National Portrait Gallery (2013–18). Emily’s specialism is in British and Old Master painting and collecting. She holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and UCL and completed her AHRC-funded PhD on art and collecting in England during the Civil Wars and Interregnum, c.1640–1660 (University of Nottingham, 2018). Emily was a contributor to the Paul Mellon Centre’s research project Art and the Country House (2020), and she is the founding Editor of the Jordaens Van Dyck Journal (2021–present).
Tim Corum has worked in the arts for over 30 years, principally in museums and galleries, developing museum exhibitions and festivals at Oldham, Leeds, Bristol, the Horniman in London, and now with Richmond Arts Service. In Leeds and Oldham, he worked on developing international art programmes and a series of major capital projects. In Bristol, Tim led the development of the City Museum and Art Gallery, encouraging artists to intervene in and reframe the museum and art gallery. Though most widely known for the exhibition Banksy versus Bristol Museum, this programme also embraced a diversity of projects with both local and international partners. At the same time, he developed a new international contemporary art collection, building on Bristol’s rich historic art collection. He also led the creative team that developed the new museum, M Shed. In 2015, Tim became a director at the Horniman, where his work focussed on developing participatory programmes, bringing artists and scientists from a wide variety of backgrounds together with communities to create exhibitions and festivals that cast new light on the museum’s internationally significant collections. Tim moved to Richmond during the pandemic to lead the Borough’s Arts Service and direct the development of Orleans House Gallery.
Clare Gough is Director of Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, architect Sir John Soane’s ‘country’ house in Ealing, West London and its adjacent contemporary gallery. Clare led Pitzhanger through a major conservation project to restore the house to Soane’s innovative design and upgrade the gallery, so it now stages exhibitions with artists ranging from Anish Kapoor to Es Devlin and Rana Begum. Clare is a Trustee of the Art Fund and was previously a Trustee of the Museum of the Home. She formerly worked at the National Gallery and National Gallery Co. Ltd before setting up an art consultancy working with the V&A and other art institutions.
Judith Hawley is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London. She frequently appears on BBC radio and TV and is a Trustee of the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust. Her research interests range from gin to Grub Street, and she has a particular interest in the history of amateur performance.
Enfilade 
leave a comment