Andrea Soldi
Encyclopedia
Life
The only remaining source for this painter's early years is George VertueGeorge Vertue
George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.-Life:...
, who in 1738 stated he was "about thirty-five or rather more", had been born in Florence and had come to England in about 1736 on the advice of British merchants belonging to the Levant Company
Levant Company
The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...
, who had commissioned their portraits from him during his travels in the Middle East. From 1738 to 1744 he won much success in London's art market and among Italophile noblemen back from their Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, being preferred to both English portrait practice (fluctuating between Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
and Kneller
Godfrey Kneller
Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I...
-like styles) and to other Italian portraitists in England at the time, such as the Cavaliere Rusca (worked in London 1738-39), and Andrea Casali
Andrea Casali
Andrea Casali was an Italian painter of the Rococo period.He was born at Civitavecchia, and is said to have been a pupil of Sebastiano Conca. He traveled to England in 1741, and stayed there for more than two decades, and where he was a teacher to James Durno. Some sources claim a birthdate of...
(worked in London 1741-66).
Beginning "above thirty portraits" from April to August 1738 alone (according to Vertue), Soldi's only serious rivals was Jean-Baptiste van Loo
Jean-Baptiste van Loo
Jean-Baptiste van Loo was a French subject and portrait painter.-Biography:He was born in Aix-en-Provence, and was instructed in art by his father Louis-Abraham van Loo, son of Jacob van Loo...
(in London 1737-42). Particular patrons included the 2nd Duke of Manchester
William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester
William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester, KB was the son of Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester.He married Lady Isabella Montagu, daughter of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, on 16 April 1723....
, 3rd Duke of Manchester
Robert Montagu, 3rd Duke of Manchester
Robert Montagu, 3rd Duke of Manchester was the son of Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester.He was MP for Huntingdonshire 1734–1739.He married Harriet Dunch, daughter of Edmund Dunch on 3 April 1735 and they had four children:...
, 3rd Duke of Beaufort
Henry Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort
Henry Somerset-Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort was born Henry Somerset, the elder son of Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort and his second wife, Rachel Noel. As his father's eldest son and heir to his father's title he was known as Marquess of Worcester, a courtesy title...
and 4th Viscount Fauconberg.
Works
- Two three-quarter-length portraits called Thomas Sheppard (1733 and 1735-6; ex-art market, London, 1917 and 1924, see Ingamells, 1974)
- eight portraits of the 2nd and 3rd Dukes of Manchester (sold at Kimbolton CastleKimbolton CastleKimbolton Castle in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, is best known as the final home of King Henry VIII's first queen, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat of the Dukes of Manchester from 1615 until 1950...
, Cambridgeshire, 18 July 1949) - four portraits of the 3rd Duke of Beaufort (Badminton HouseBadminton HouseBadminton House is a large country house in Gloucestershire, England, and has been the principal seat of the Dukes of Beaufort since the late 17th century, when the family moved from Raglan Castle, which had been ruined in the English Civil War...
, Gloucestershire) - eight portraits of the 4th Viscount Fauconberg (Newburgh PrioryNewburgh PrioryNewburgh Priory is a large house near Coxwold, North Yorkshire, England. Standing on the site of an Augustinian priory, founded in 1145, it is a stately home in a rural setting with views to the Kilburn White Horse in the distance...
, North Yorkshire) - James Francis Edward StuartJames Francis Edward StuartJames Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...
, Old Pretender of Scotland, half-length portrait (1755, location unknown) - full-length of Lord Fauconberg (c. 1739; Newburgh Priory, North Yorkshire)
- Owen McSwiny, art dealer (c.1738, also painted by van Loo)
- Colley CibberColley CibberColley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
(c.1738, also painted by van Loo) - seated three-quarter-length of Isabella, Duchess of Manchester (wife of the 2nd Duke of Manchester), as Diana (1738; London, Colnaghi's, 1986)
- the Duncombe Family (1741; priv. col., see Ingamells, 1974), a conversation pieceConversation pieceConversation piece is a term for an informal group portrait, especially those painted in Britain in the 18th century, beginning in the 1720s. They are distinguished by their portrayal of the group apparently engaged in genteel conversation or some activity, very often outdoors...
- Self-portrait (1743; York, C.A.G.)
Sources
- Andrea Soldi at ARTCYCLOPEDIA
- Portrait of Henry Lannoy Hunter in Oriental Dress, Resting from Hunting, with a Manservant Holding Game, by Soldi (Tate BritainTate BritainTate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
) - Andrea Soldi on artnet