John
Soane,
the son of a mason, was born in Reading in 1753. He trained as an
architect under George Dance and was assistant to Henry Holland. After
being awarded a travelling scholarship by the Royal
Academy in 1777, Soane spent the next three years in Italy. Soane
developed a Neo-Classical style and gained several important commissions
including the Bank of England and the Dulwich
College Art Gallery.
In 1806 Soane became a professor at the Royal
Academy. Sir John Soane, who died in 1837, bequeathed his own
house (12-14 Lincoln's Inn Fields) to the nation. It is now the Sir
John Soane Museum and contains two famous series of paintings, Rake's
Progress and The Election,
by William Hogarth.
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