Design for a Doric temple portico: elevation, c.1770

John Yenn RA (1750 - 1821)

RA Collection: Art

Yenn was amongst the first intake of students at the newly formed Royal Academy Schools and this design for the front of a temple may be one of Yenn's student designs from about 1770. The elevation shows a row of six Corinthian columns, the centre four projecting forward with a frieze decorated with swags and drops while the outer frieze is a pattern of running athemions. The pediment above has a sculpted typanum showing a central figure of Brittania, with her shield, attended by muses and putti representing the Arts. Within, the exterior cella is decorated with three niches with female sculptures representing sculpture, painting and architecture. As the plan is not classically correct, having a projecting centre to the portico, it may well be that the design represents a garden temple dedicated to the Arts.