Among some miscellaneous papers in a volume of the Birch MSS. in the
British Museum (Add. 4293. fol. 5.) is preserved a curious document
illustrative of the love of Charles I. for the fine arts, and his anxiety
to increase his collection of paintings, which, as it has escaped the
notice of Walpole and his annotators, I transcribe below.
"CHARLES R.
"Whereas wee vnderstand that an excellent Collection of paintings are
to be solde in Venice, whiche are knowen by the name of Bartolomeo
della Nave his Collection, Wee are desirous that our beloved servant
Mr. William Pettye, should goe thither to make the bargayne for them,
Wee our selues beinge resolved to goe a fourthe share in the buyinge of
them (soe it exceed not the s[=o]me of Eight hundred powndes
sterlinge), but that our Name be concealed in it. And if it shall
please God that the same Collection be bought and come safelye hither,
Then wee doe promise in the word of a Kinge, that they shall be divyded
with all equallitye in this maner, vid^t. That, they shall be equallie
divyded into fower partes by some men skillfull in paintinge, and then
everie one interested in the shares, or some for them, shall throwe the
Dice severallye, and whoesoever throwes moste, shall chose his share
first, and soe in order everye one shall choose after first, as he
castes most, and shal take their shares freelye to their owne vses, as
they shall fall vnto them. In wittnes whereof wee haue sett our hande,
this Eight daye of July, in the Tenth year of our Reigne, 1634."
The individual employed by Charles in this negotiation is the same who
collected antiquities in Greece for the Earl of Arundel. He was Vicar of
Thorley, in the Isle of Wight, and is believed to have been the uncle of
the celebrated Sir William Petty, ancestor of the Marquis of Lansdowne. It
would be curious to learn the particulars of the "bargayne" made by him,
and how the pictures were disposed of after their arrival in England. Were
the Warrant and Privy Seal books of the period (still remaining among the
Exchequer records) easily accessible, no doubt some information on these
points might be gained. That this collection of Bartolomeo della Nave was a
celebrated one, we have the testimony of Simon Vouet, in a letter to
Ferrante Carlo, written from Venice, August 14, 1627, in which he speaks of
it as a "studio di bellissime pitture" (Bottari, _Lettere Pittoriche_, vol.
i. p. 335.: Milano, 1822): and that it came over to England, is asserted
repeatedly by Ridolfi, in his _Vite degli illustri Pittori Veneti_, the
first edition of which appeared at Venice in 1648. He mentions in this work
several paintings which were in Della Nave's collection, and which it may
be interesting to refer to here, in case they are still to be traced in
England. In vol. i. p. 107. (I quote the Padua edition of 1835) is noticed
a painting by Vincenzio Catena, representing Judith carrying the head of
Holofernes in one hand, and a sword in the other. In the same volume, p.
182., a portrait of Zattina by Palma il Vecchio, holding in her hand "una
zampina dorata;" and at p. 263. several sacred subjects by Titian among
which is specified one of the Virgin surrounded by Saints, and another of
the woman taken in adultery, with "multi ritratti" by the same. Again, at
p. 288., a head of a lady, supposed to be the mother of the artist Nadelino
da Murano, one of the most talented pupils of Titian; and at p. 328. a
painting by Andrea Schiavone, and some designs of Parmigiano. In vol. ii.
p. 123. are mentioned two paintings by Battista Zelotti from Ovid's Fables;
and at p. 141. a picture of the good Samaritan, by Jacopo da Ponte of
Bassano. For these references to Bottari and Ridolfi, I own myself indebted
to Mr. William Carpenter, the keeper of the department of engravings in the
British Museum; and, probably, some of your readers may contribute further
illustrations of Bartolomeo della Nave's collection of pictures, and of the
purchase of them by Charles I. I do not find this purchase noticed in
Vanderdort's list of Charles's pictures, published by Walpole in 1757.