The English architect Sir John Soane did not have an aristocratic upbringing. He was the son of a bricklayer and only added the “e” to his last name when he married, in 1784. Yet Soane rose to the top of his profession, helping to define London’s urban landscape in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Bank of England, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and his eponymous museum were among Soane’s creations. What is less known is that over the years, he also put together an important collection of drawings that date from the Medieval period to the 19th century. This exhibition pulls those masterpieces out of drawers and places them before us. —Elena Clavarino