DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63299#0025
THE PICTURE GALLERT OF CHARLES I. 15
acted somewhat lightly in’ the matter, and with an insufficient appreci-
ation of the treasure he was allowing to slip through his fingers, it must be
urged in his defence that he obtained in return a genuine Raphael of the
purest water, and one belonging of right to the Royal House of England.
Some of the examples of sixteenth-century Venetian art included in the
Earl’s great collection were sent over to him as early as 1615, by Sir
Dudley Carleton, then ambassador to the Venetian State, and others more
important were among those originally purchased by Carleton for the Earl
of Somerset. The latter Lord Arundel had the good fortune to obtain
from the king in 1616 as a gift upon the confiscation of the favourite’s
property.
This addition of pictures included Venetian canvases, for which
Somerset had paid Sir Dudley Carleton a sum of nearly .£900. Among
these last were “ The Susanna, of Tintoretto ; the Benediction of Jacob, of
Tintoretto ; the Queen of Sheba, of Tintoretto ; the Samaritan Woman,
of Tintoretto ; Ceres, Bacchus and Venus, of Tintoretto ; The Labyrinth,
of Tintoretto ; three pieces by Paolo Veronese, the Beheading of St. John
by Bassano Vecchio ; the Venus of Titian, and the Shepherds, of Andrea
Schiavone.”
It is to this eminent diplomatist and negotiator that we owe the first
importation of fine Venetian works into England. It is no doubt in a
great measure to his enthusiastic efforts, in this direction, during his official
residence of three years at Venice, that must be traced the passion for the
sixteenth-century masters of the Venetian city and territory which
suddenly flamed up with such wonderful results among the royal, noble,
and citizen collectors of England and the Netherlands.
Sir Dudley Carleton, afterwards Baron Carleton and Viscount
Dorchester, had been appointed to Venice in 1612 as the successor
to Sir Henry Wotton, and while rapidly acquiring there the reputation
of one of the most sagacious and skilful diplomatists in Europe, he found
time to conduct negotiations for the acquisition of pictures and works of
art with a tact and a success no less remarkable. He married Anne,
daughter of the learned Sir Henry Saville, who, from letters cited by
Sainsbury in the above-quoted work, appears to have been not less enthu-
1 Original Unpublished Papers, illustrative of the Life oj Sir Peter Paul Rubens, &c.
W. Noel Sainsbury. 1859.
acted somewhat lightly in’ the matter, and with an insufficient appreci-
ation of the treasure he was allowing to slip through his fingers, it must be
urged in his defence that he obtained in return a genuine Raphael of the
purest water, and one belonging of right to the Royal House of England.
Some of the examples of sixteenth-century Venetian art included in the
Earl’s great collection were sent over to him as early as 1615, by Sir
Dudley Carleton, then ambassador to the Venetian State, and others more
important were among those originally purchased by Carleton for the Earl
of Somerset. The latter Lord Arundel had the good fortune to obtain
from the king in 1616 as a gift upon the confiscation of the favourite’s
property.
This addition of pictures included Venetian canvases, for which
Somerset had paid Sir Dudley Carleton a sum of nearly .£900. Among
these last were “ The Susanna, of Tintoretto ; the Benediction of Jacob, of
Tintoretto ; the Queen of Sheba, of Tintoretto ; the Samaritan Woman,
of Tintoretto ; Ceres, Bacchus and Venus, of Tintoretto ; The Labyrinth,
of Tintoretto ; three pieces by Paolo Veronese, the Beheading of St. John
by Bassano Vecchio ; the Venus of Titian, and the Shepherds, of Andrea
Schiavone.”
It is to this eminent diplomatist and negotiator that we owe the first
importation of fine Venetian works into England. It is no doubt in a
great measure to his enthusiastic efforts, in this direction, during his official
residence of three years at Venice, that must be traced the passion for the
sixteenth-century masters of the Venetian city and territory which
suddenly flamed up with such wonderful results among the royal, noble,
and citizen collectors of England and the Netherlands.
Sir Dudley Carleton, afterwards Baron Carleton and Viscount
Dorchester, had been appointed to Venice in 1612 as the successor
to Sir Henry Wotton, and while rapidly acquiring there the reputation
of one of the most sagacious and skilful diplomatists in Europe, he found
time to conduct negotiations for the acquisition of pictures and works of
art with a tact and a success no less remarkable. He married Anne,
daughter of the learned Sir Henry Saville, who, from letters cited by
Sainsbury in the above-quoted work, appears to have been not less enthu-
1 Original Unpublished Papers, illustrative of the Life oj Sir Peter Paul Rubens, &c.
W. Noel Sainsbury. 1859.