Top: C.R. Cockerell, 1836. Study for Add. 9272/4/39. Pencil and wash.
Middle: C.R. Cockerell, 1836. Sketches for statues of muses. Pencil. Bottom:
C.R. Cockerell, 1837. Study for Add.9272/1/65. Pencil.
MS. Add.6630, p. 4

Cockerell chose an enneastyle portico partly to solve an axial issue, but also so that he could represent over the entablature the nine muses of Greek mythology. The central drawing on this page shows the statues of the muses that Cockerell conceived. They are modelled on a set of Roman depictions from the 2nd Century AD that had been discovered in a villa near Tivoli in 1774 and were put on display in a specially-designed room in the Vatican a decade later. Evidently Cockerell put considerable thought into the arrangement of his proposed replicas: the poses and order of the figures remain consistent throughout subsequent elevations and perspective views of the facade.

From left to right the drawings depict Euterpe, Terpsichore, Melpomene, Thalia, Urania, Clio, Polyhymnia, Calliope and Erato.