SOANE, Sir John
(b. 1753, Goring, d. 1837, London)

Interior view

1791
Photo
Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire

Soane's commissions up to 1791 had been mainly for country houses. In Wimpole Hall in that year, he first put into practice the idea of top-lighting, a domed interior lit from above, which would become a leitmotif of his work.

The photo shows the interior of the Yellow Drawing Room, which is constructed over a square with two lateral apses and a barrel-vaulted long axis. Over the centre space, Soane combined a a pendentive and umbrella dome, which opens into a large glass lantern.