by Allison Sharpe (YGS Communications Manager)
Portrait of the Artist
by Andrea Soldi (c.1703-1771)
Oil on canvas, 1743
YORAG : 1215, Purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund and the Friends of York Art Gallery, 1972
Image courtesy of York Museums Trust
The Italian painter Andrea Soldi is noted as having passed through York₁. Whether he painted there is uncertain, but he was patronised by several important noble families who had North Riding country seats. He is also known to have worked in Scotland, in about 1756-1758.
York Art Gallery holds two important works by the artist and the self-portrait of 1743 epitomises his painterly skill. Here Soldi adopts an elegant three-quarter pose, one hand (not shown) confidently on hip – elbow pushing out from the picture plane – the other holding a palette and brushes. His gaze is slightly ambiguous, seeming at once pensive and to be directed at the viewer. All textures here are convincingly rendered, particularly the red velvet robe with fur edging, the linen shirt and loosely curled hair tied with a ribbon.
Intriguingly, another version of this picture was listed in 1980₂ and had been purchased by
Soldi’s key Yorkshire customer, Thomas Belasyse, 4th Viscount Fauconberg (1699-1774) of
Newburgh Priory, near Coxwold. Painted about 1760 and probably exhibited by Soldi at the
Society of Artists the next year, that self-portrait is larger, and features an easel with
drawing to which he points. A black and white reproduction₂ shows that Soldi rendered his
slightly aged appearance, indicating integrity of approach.
John Michael Rysbrack Modelling His Terracotta Statue of Hercules
by Andrea Soldi (c.1703-1771)
Oil on canvas, 1753
Paul Mellon Collection
B1976.7.75, (CC0) Image courtesy of Yale Center for British Art
Belasyse first commissioned Soldi in 1739, just three years after the artist’s 1736 arrival in London. So the Newburgh Priory collection ranges in date from a productive heyday that continued to the mid-1740s, and beyond to less affluent times. Soldi had been born in Florence, and prior to his English years spent time successfully painting Levant Company merchants east of the Mediterranean.
Depicting the famous Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770) in 1753, Soldi used a similar pose to that of his own gesturing self-portrait. In this case, though, he introduces more dynamism, as the subject turns to one side, apparently calling the attention of someone off-canvas. Earlier, by the 1740s, Rysbrack’s career had lost buoyancy, too. The Hercules model shown here in 1753 was actually finished years beforehand (1744), with the eventual sculpture being installed in The Pantheon at Stourhead, Wiltshire, in 1756.
Robert Hay Drummond
by Andrea Soldi (c.1703-1771)
Oil on canvas, 1760s
YORAG : 1380, Purchased with the assistance of the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund, the
National Art Collections Fund, the York Civic Trust and an anonymous donation, 1983
Image courtesy of York Museums Trust
The second York Art Gallery Soldi – of Robert Hay Drummond (1711-1776), Archbishop of York – belongs to the artist’s last decade. Drummond wears a clergyman’s linen surplice with ballooning sleeves, a black satin tippet, his head dressed in a grey periwig. In front of Soldi’s often used plain background are elaborate attributes, such as a column wrapped in a purple curtain, a tassel and the sitter’s ornamented carved chair. An indication of learning is embodied via the book – a Bible? – the Archbishop holds, propped on his leg. He points to the side gracefully with his right hand, although this reads a little awkwardly. However Soldi does credibly depict Drummond’s features, embodying there the kindness, generosity and enjoyment of life that were known qualities of the sitter.
Soon after he gave the sermon at King George III and Queen Charlotte’s coronation on 22 September 1761, Drummond was confirmed to the York Archbishopric. He was to have Thomas Atkinson (1729-1798) remodel the Bishopthorpe Palace and Chapel (1766-1769) and spent much time at his family home, Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster. As Drummond shunned London as much as possible since the accession, the likelihood that Soldi travelled to Yorkshire to paint this portrait should be considered.
Soldi was described as being extravagant with pretensions to noble status, but he lived beyond his means and in his dying year of 1771, applied to the Royal Academy for charity₂. Only 31 works by the artist, or attributed to him, are listed in public collections; and although 76 were recorded in 1980, a great many more surely remain unknown (given that in 1738 he was working on over 30 portraits at once)₂.Continuing to paint in later life, Soldi exhibited at the Society of Artists 1761-1766 and was elected Fellow there in 1765, and at the Free Society in 1769.
References: John Ingamells, ‘Art in 18th-Century York’, Country Life, 1971, Part 1 pp. 1412-
1414 & Part 2 pp. 1530-1532 ₁
John Ingamells, ‘Andrea Soldi – A Check-list of his work’, The Volume of the Walpole Society, Vol. 47 (1978-1980), pp. 1-20 ₂
NB: The John Ingamells Archive at the Paul Mellon Centre, London (not consulted in the
production of this article) holds the art historian’s research notes, including material
collated after the above check-list was published.
YGS Events for Your Diary
Saturday 8 March
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London
Dr Bruce Boucher
A lecture at The York Medical Society Rooms, 23 Stonegate, York, YO1 8AW at 2.30pm-4pm
Number 13, Lincoln’s Inn Fields has cast a spell over generations of visitors, evoking delight but provoking, at times, bafflement if not confusion. Its creator intended it to be a repository of all that was best required for the formation of a modern architect; yet more generally the house and its collections were conceived as an academy for the enlightenment of the general public, as well as a catalyst for the creation of new art by future generations. At the same time, it is much more than the sum of its parts, and is one of the most intensely autobiographical statements conceived in three-dimensional terms. John Soane famously said that the works in his collection were arranged ‘as studies for my own mind’, but he never explained what he meant by that phrase. This talk attempts to illuminate Soane’s collection, and his strategy for it through its display.
Thursday 27th March
The Retreat, © PJ Livesey
An afternoon visit to The Retreat, Heslington Road, York, YO10 5BU at 2pm-5.30pm
Join us for an afternoon getting to know The Retreat, prior to its conversion to residential use. This is a rare chance to see inside the historic mental healthcare facility famous for pioneering the humane treatment of patients in the 18th century. The Retreat’s influence on improvements in mental healthcare reached across Europe and North America.
The Retreat continued in its original use until the 2020s, when it was sold by the Quaker trust to PJ Livesey for residential redevelopment.
Learn about the site’s history, the importance of the Grade-II* listed landscape, and the challenges of conversion to a viable new use. The visit will end with refreshments and a short lecture on the human stories of The Retreat through a visual exploration of the digitised archives.
It promises to be a fascinating event with knowledgeable speakers. Please purchase your
ticket via York Georgian Society’s People’s Fundraiser account. Tickets are limited: so book
now to avoid disappointment!
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