RKD STUDIES

Considering the different types of collections that Cartwright owned – paintings, books, prints, and drawings – we must take into account that he was both a collector and a bookseller, who not only dealt in books but most likely also dealt in other types of paper, namely prints and probably also drawings. The works on paper in Cartwright's possession can therefore have a dual purpose: the books, prints and drawings may have formed part of his collection, or they may have been trading stock. It is not likely that Cartwright traded in paintings, or at least no trace of that can be found. We can assume that the paintings belonged to Cartwright's art collection.

Collecting art and visiting collections was generally a social activity, for learning and entertainment. Descriptions and images of visits to collections are known from Rome, Antwerp, and Amsterdam from the 16th to the early 18th century.¹ They show that collections were looked at in groups and that a collection only really came to life when visitors came. John Evelyn, Samuel Pepys and Robert Hooke (1635-1703) make similar statements in their diaries about visits to collections in London.² Although there are no known records of visits to Cartwright's collection, we can assume that for him too collecting and showing a collection to visitors was a social activity.

Cartwright would have shown visitors his collection of paintings, touring the various rooms in the house. Among the paintings there hung three framed prints, of which only one can be identified with reasonable certainty: no. 12, ‘ye print of Thomas howard duke of norfolk [...], by hollbaine’.³ The portrait of Thomas Howard, 3d Duke of Norfolk (1473-1554) by Holbein is in the Royal Collection. Cartwright’s print was probably the version by Lucas Vorsterman I (1595/96-1674/75), which is clearly marked ‘Hans Hollbain pinxit’, after the portrait of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473-1554) by Holbein, now in the Royal Collection [26-27].

Furthermore, among the paintings there were five that have recently been discovered to have been made after prints.⁴ Given the low quality of some of these works, it is conceivable that they were executed by amateurs, possibly even using prints from Cartwright's collection. There is an anonymous painting after a print by Aegidius Sadeler II after a painting by Parmigianino (Cartwright, no. 103) [28-29]; one after a print by Cornelis Cort after a painting by Federico Barocci (no. 145) [30-31]; one after an engraving by Jan Harmensz. Muller reproducing a drawing by Bartholomeus Spranger (no. 151) [32-33]; one probably after a print by Marcantonio Raimondi after a painting by Raphael (no. 163) and one after an engraving by Cornelis Visscher II after his own design (no. 172) [34-35]. Except for Cornelis Visscher and Cornelis Cort all the names are mentioned in Cartwright's list.

So far, we have assumed that Cartwright bought his paintings on the local art market in London, which at the time was home to quite a few Northern and Southern Netherlandish painters who worked in factory-like conditions with local painters to produce large numbers of paintings, including copies, of rather low quality.⁵ ​Cartwright would thus have bought his paintings from professionals. Looking now at Cartwright's print collection, it is not impossible that his prints were used as models for copying by Cartwright himself or by his visitors, and that amateur paintings were also included in his collection. What can be countered is that there is no trace of painting material to be found in Cartwright's estate, nor does he mention his own work or that of his social circle in his paintings inventory.

28
Aegidius Sadeler (II) after Parmigianino
Madonna with a Rose
London (England), British Museum, inv./cat.nr. 1851,0308.1027

29
Anonymous 1600-1686 after Aegidius Sadeler (II) after Parmigianino
Head of a woman, 1600-1686
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG380

In the album of drawings we encounter ten works after European prints [36-55]. Here too it is rather likely that Cartwright owned the prints that were the models for these drawings. In his notes on prints he mentions the names or monograms of Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Lievens, and (Abraham) Bloemaert, but he does not mention the names or monograms of Cornelis Cort and Jan de Bisschop.⁶ Some of the drawings in the album may have been produced [with]in Cartwright's social circle, and Cartwright may have shown the prints that were copied alongside the drawings to his visitors.