‘Slaves of Antiquity’: John Soane and the Caryatid as a Symbol of Slavery
Ciarán Rua O’Neill
From the 1790s to the 1820s, John Soane made extensive use of caryatids, the female statues serving as architectural supports in place of columns in classical architecture. Quite unlike any British architect before him, he employed this motif across diverse architectural contexts and adopted versions that were directly inspired by the pre-eminent ancient exemplars, the six sculptures from the Erechtheion temple (421–406 BCE) in Athens. Following Soane’s adoption of Erechtheion-inspired caryatids manufactured by the Coade stone firm, architects throughout Britain, Europe, and beyond embraced the classical motif with an unprecedented enthusiasm. This aspect of Soane’s architectural practice has, nevertheless, been little discussed in the scholarly literature.
This article considers Soane’s use of Erechtheion-inspired caryatids in four projects: Buckingham House (1790–95), the Bank of England (1794–1823), Pitzhanger Manor (1800–04), and no. 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields (1812–13). In so doing, it argues that the architect’s idiosyncratic application of the motif reveals attempts to negate the caryatid’s entrenched, symbolic associations with slavery. Correspondingly, it considers how Soane’s employment of caryatids reflected his own sentiments and beliefs, particularly as they related to the modern slave trade and abolitionism. It also foregrounds how his caryatids responded to wider architectural discourse on the motif, while situating the figures in their historic context, when transatlantic slavery and British imperial expansion were at their height. In thereby bringing to light the potential associations and ‘meanings’ of Soane’s caryatids, the article argues for more focused scholarly attention on the political and ideological messaging inherent to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architectural sculpture.
