白金汉宫17

George III's artistic envoys knew where to look. The Palazzo Mangilli Valmarana was home to the British consul, Joseph Smith. He was one of the greatest art collectors, the Charles Saatchi of his day. When Joseph Smith lived here, these walls were crammed with paintings that he'd commissioned from up-and-coming Venetian artists. It became the in thing for visiting British aristocrats to pull every string and use every family connection to try and get an invite here so they could admire the collection and then maybe buy a little something to take home. But Joseph Smith fell on hard times and needed cash, so he sold the lot to George III. Along with an impressive hoard of books, antiques and coins were paintings by great masters like Vermeer. Best of all were the paintings by Venice's greatest living artist, Canaletto.

威尼斯的大主顾们急需要钱，对英国收藏家来说这是个绝佳的时机，可以用低廉的价格收购艺术品。乔治三世的艺术使者知道该去哪里淘这些艺术品。曼吉利·瓦马拉那宫是英国驻威尼斯领事约瑟夫·史密斯的家。他是最伟大的艺术品收藏家之一是那个时代的查尔斯·萨奇（查尔斯·萨奇是当代著名收藏家） 约瑟夫住在这里的时候，这些墙上挂满了画作都是他从才华横溢的威尼斯画家手里收集的。英国贵族很时兴来这里参观，为此会使用各种方式和家人的关系，只为了得到一份邀请，来观赏这些收藏。也许他们可以买些绘画作品带回家去。 后来约瑟夫穷困潦倒，急需用钱，因而把很多东西都卖给了乔治三世，连同大量的书籍，古董，古钱币，还有绘画大家维米尔的作品。其中最好的作品当属威尼斯艺术家卡纳莱托的。