Join us for this special event in celebration of our new online exhibition, A Golden Age of Architecture: Rare Elizabethan and early Jacobean Drawings by Thorpe and the Smythsons.
Co-curators Manolo Guerci, Reader at the School of Arts and Architecture at the University of Kent, and Olivia Horsfall Turner, Chief Curator of the Royal Institute of British Architects, will discuss the Book of Architecture of John Thorpe (c.1565–1655) in Sir John Soane’s Museum, and the drawings by Robert Smythson (d.1614) and his son John Smythson (d.1634) in the RIBA collection. In conversation with Frances Sands, Curator of Drawings and Books at Sir John Soane’s Museum, Manolo and Olivia will explore the making and meaning of these drawings and what they reveal about being an architect in early modern England. There will also be a unique opportunity to view a display of rare drawings selected from the show alongside our expert curators.
Guests will have the opportunity to experience Sir John Soane's Museum after hours, by candlelight. A drinks reception in our atmospheric drawing rooms will follow the talk.
About the event
Timings for the evening will be as follows:
18:30: Doors open and Museum spaces open for guests to explore
19:00: Talk begins
19:45: Drinks reception and drawings display
20:30: Event finishes
Your confirmation email serves as your ticket. Tickets are refundable up to 7 days before the event, after which point they are non-refundable or exchangeable.
We are in a Grade I listed, 19th-century building, so access is not always straightforward. If you require step-free access or extra assistance, please contact us in advance of your booking on admin@soane.org.uk or 020 7405 2107.
About the speakers
Dr. Manolo Guerci is an architectural historian and conservationist educated as an architect in around Europe. He is a Reader at the School of Arts and Architecture at the University of Kent, where he leads the PhD Programme. His interests and expertise focus particularly, though not exclusively, on the Early-Modern Period. His latest monograph on 'London's "Golden Mile". Great Houses of Strand. 1550-1650' (PMC/YUP 2021) received the first 2023 HBA (History of British Art) prize for a single-authored pre-1600 book, while his current projects include a new critical edition-cum-catalogue of the ‘Book of Architecture of John Thorpe’ (c.1565-1655), at Sir John Soane’s Museum, alongside a virtual exhibition co-curated with Dr. Olivia Horsfall Turner.
Dr. Olivia Horsfall Turner is Chief Curator of the Royal Institute of British Architects. From 2014 to 2024 she was Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where she was responsible for the design drawings collection, documenting process in the applied arts, including architecture, from the fifteenth century to the present day. She has published on a variety of subjects, including medieval wall-paintings and early modern antiquarianism; her most recent book is Owen Jones and the V&A: Ornament for a Modern Age (Lund Humphries, 2023). She has a particular interest in the history of architectural representation and is currently researching the drawings of Robert and John Smythson in the RIBA Collection.
Dr Frances Sands is Curator of Drawings and Books at Sir John Soane's Museum. She has worked at rhe Museum since 2010, first as Catalogue Editor, tasked with cataloguing the office drawings collection of Robert and James Adam – a vast project which is still ongoing. In 2016 she was appointed the Curator of Drawings and Books, taking responsibility for the Soane Museum’s wider collection of 30,000 drawings and 7,000 books. She has curated various exhibitions and publishes and lectures widely. Since 2010, Fran has also served as a Trustee of the York Georgian Society, the Mausolea and Monuments Trust, the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, and sat on the advisory committee for the Grinling Gibbons Society’s Tercentenary exhibition.
Banner image: J. Thorpe, Survey drawing of Ground floor and main elevation of Somerset House, Strand, London, c.1603. SM vol10/087. Photo: Ardon Bar-Hama