A Sketch-book by Thomas Hope

Extract

The fact that so few of the private papers and drawings of Thomas Hope (1769–1831) have so far come to light makes the recent purchase by the RIBA of a small sketchbook all the more interesting. The book, measuring 10.5 cm by 16.0 cm, is bound in green paper-covered boards containing 86 pages and is initialled T.H. The attribution to Hope is confirmed by the fact that 12 of the drawings (those on pp. 14–15,60, 62, 66–67 and 72–77) were subsequently used for the engravings in An Historical Essay on Architecture by the late Thomas Hope, illustrated from Drawings made by him in Italy and Germany (2 vols, 1835). The sketch-book and its drawings are not dated but a loose page inserted at the end, with drawings in a similar style, is watermarked 1812: this seems a likely date for the whole book since Hope refers to the Villa Aldobrandini in Rome as the Villa Miollis (the villa was occupied by General Miollis who was Governor of Rome from 1808–13). The book seems to be the record of a single journey proceeding from Rome to Florence, Siena, Parma, Modena, Piacenza, with a few drawings made on the way home in Dijon, Auxerre and Paris. A label on the cover reads: Italy 1. Rome, Siena, Florence, Parma, Placenta, Rivoli, France Dijon Auxerre.