Semillas de frijol

The Stuart period and the reign of James I marked the increasing interest in Venetian art in England, and some of the recognition for this interest must be given to Sir Henry Wotton, who first travelled to Venice as ambassador in 1604.3 He is often credited with being one of the earliest English connoisseurs of Italian art, and is known to have bought

pictures for both Lord Salisbury and the Duke of Buckingham during his embassies.4

From these correspondences, one can gain a sense of the burgeoning taste for well- modelled figures, as Wotton goes on to ask if he [the Duke] feels that the “Italians can make fruits as well as Flemings, which is the common glory of their pencils”.5 Wotton acts not only as a connoisseur himself, but sends an agent (who has been identified provisionally by Pearsall Smith as the Flemish art dealer Daniel Nys) who is also a painter “to make a search in the best towns through Italy, for some principal pieces,

which I hope may produce somewhat for your Lordship’s contentment and service”.6

This letter is dated during Wotton’s second embassy in Venice, however the insatiable interest in collecting Venetian art dates back to the early years of the seventeenth century. By the 1610s, many paintings had been acquired (either by commission, or purchased

3_{L.P. Smith,The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, vol. I, London 1907, 46.} 4

L.P. Smith,The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, vol. I, 60. There are many examples of surviving correspondence concerning the acquisition of paintings for Buckingham, though one of the most significant (as it also concerns Baron Roos), is that from Wotton, dated December 2/12 1622, sent from Venice in which he describes paintings by Titian and Palma. See No. 1, Appendix V. L.P. Smith,The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, vol. II, 257.

5

L.P. Smith,The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, vol. II, 258.

when collections were scattered across Europe), and were displayed in London or Westminster where they could be seen by both the court and “persons of quality”.7

The growing interest in travelling throughout Italy proved both a source of great inspiration for early collectors such as the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Arundel, as well as for artists in their employment (most notably Inigo Jones travelling with Arundel as a cicerone), but also proved a source of great frustration for the Anglican clergy, including Joseph Hall, who asked “Quo vadis?”, where are you going, in an effort to emphasise the benefits of travelling through Britain instead of being exposed to moral and religious corruption in Italy.8 However this idea of “religious corruption” did not, of course, dissuade English Catholic connoisseurs visiting the continent, including the Earl of Arundel and his wife Aletheia Talbot, and others such as George Gage and Peter Fitton. The interrelation of collecting, patronage, and political involvement in these circles was often inexplicably complicated, and art collecting thus had the power to take on political or religious undertones, dependent on the situation.

Both sons of James I, Henry Prince of Wales, and Charles, were keen collectors. After he appropriated his brother’s collection, he did not begin to acquire his own pieces until circa 1618-19, in conjunction with the activities of the Duke of Buckingham.9 Charles I exercised his tastes as a collector, and was known to have purged pictures from his

7

T. Wilks, “Art Collecting at the English Court from the Death of Henry, Prince of Wales to the Death of Anne of Denmark”,Journal of the History of Collections9, 1997, 32. Wilks points out that the sale of many Venetian collections was due in part to the continuing economic decline of the city.

8_{E. Chaney,The Evolution of the Grand Tour: Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations since the Renaissance,}

London 1998, xiv.

9

T. Wilks, “Art Collecting at the English Court from the Death of Henry, Prince of Wales to the Death of Anne of Denmark”, 33.

collection that were not to his taste, or rather did not conform to the new ideas concerning a good sense of design in pictures.10 Wotton, in hisPangyrick of King Charlesextols the virtues of art of the period.11 It is of note that his greatest praise goes to the Venetians: while figures breathe in Raphael’s paintings, they speak in those of Titian and move in those of Tintoretto. These ideals and tastes will prove particularly important in later years, as Sir Henry Wotton bequeathed four portraits of “the Dukes of Venice” and a “table of the Venetian College, where Ambassadors had their audience... which containeth a draught in little, well resembling the famous Duke Leonardo Donato,12in a time which needed a wise and constant man”13 by Odoardo Fialetti to the King in 1637, and they remained in his collection until the dispersal of the goods of Charles I in the

Commonwealth Sale.14

10_{For an example concerning the work of Hendrik Goltzius, see: T. Wilks, “Art Collecting at the English}

Court from the Death of Henry, Prince of Wales to the Death of Anne of Denmark”, 34. It should be noted, however, that this was not the case with the sculpture collection of Charles I, which he saw as a necessary and befitting his office. See D. Howarth “Charles I, Sculpture and Sculptors”, in A. MacGregor, ed.,The Late King’s Goods: Collections, Possessions and Patronage of Charles I in the Light of Commonwealth Sale Inventories, London and Oxford 1989, 73-113.

11_{No. 2, Appendix V. H. Wotton,A Pangyrick of King Charles, London (Printed for Richard Marriot)}

1649, 103-107. [Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery]

12_{Though Donato and Donà are the same surname in the Venetian dialect, this study will use the traditional}

titles attributed to the paintings by the Royal Collection, maintaining the difference in spelling between Leonardo Donato and Nicolò Donà.

13_{Wotton wrote his Will and Testament on 1 October 1637, and he identifies the paintings by Fialetti}

which he bequeaths to the King. No. 3, Appendix V. L.P. Smith,The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, vol. I, 215-219. Another interesting bequest in his will was that of his Italian books: “To the above named Dr Bargrave, Dead of Canterbury, I leave all my Italian Books not disposed in this will”. Dr Bargrave is the uncle of John Bargrave, who owned a copy ofDe gli habiti religioniof 1626 (as discussed in Chapter III), though whether he acquired it from his own travels or from the bequest of Wotton’s books to his uncle, is uncertain.

14_{These four paintings,Doge Leonardo Donato(alternatively identified asDoge Giovanni Bembo),Doge}

Nicolò Donà,Doge Marino GrimaniandDoge Antonio Priuliare still part of the Royal Collection, and are on permanent display in the King’s Drawing Room in Kensington Palace. The fifth painting,Doge Leonardo Donato Conceding an Audience to Sir Henry Wottonis in storage in Hampton Court Palace. The Commonwealth Sale Records list goods sold from 1649 to 1652, and provide relatively complete

information regarding the dispersal of pictures and the prices for which they sold (and to whom). At least one of the paintings of Doges was sold on the 20thof October 1650 to Mr Bass, and theSenate house of Venicesold to Mrs Delamarr on the 28thof June 1650, and both are listed as having come from Hampton Court Palace. “283. The Duke of Venice, by Tyntarrett / Sold Mr Bass ye 20thOct. 1650 for 25£” and “285. The Senate house of Venice / Sold Mrs Delamarr ye 28thJune 1650 for 10£”. MSS. Harley 4898, “An