Resumen de On being portrayed in a foreignport city:: The case of Britishmerchants and captains inLivorno (circa1680–1700)
In the account books of Antonio Franchi (1638–1709), a portraitist at the Medici court,a surprisingly high number of commissions came from British merchants and captainsliving in the port city of Livorno in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Outlining a parallelbetween Britain’s port cities and artworks of the same period, this contribution analysesthe reasons why British demand for portraiture became such an important phenomenonin the life of Florentine painters during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Second, it explores the characteristics of portrait-making in Livorno and the identityof the patrons, with a focus on the relations between merchants and captains of theRoyal Navy. Lastly, the article takes into consideration the dispersion of most portraitsproduced in port cities and how this can be linked to maritime and naval careers
