Cole, Christian

(fl. 1697 - 1735), diplomat; with Ld. Pembroke at The Hague and Ryswick 1697; sec., Venice, 1707, chargé d'affaires 1708 - 14, resident 1715.

c.1701 - 5 Venice, Vicenza (summer 1704), Verona, Padua (9 Sep.), Bol`ogna, Loreto, Rome (Sep. 1704 - 24 Sep. 1705), Siena, Leghorn, Venice (Dec.?)

1707 - 14 Venice (Jan. 1707 - Sep. 1714), with visits to Milan (Mar. - May 1712)

1715 Venice (May - Nov. 1715)

Cole spent at least ten years in Venice, where he was secretary, charg? d'affaires and then resident. He was evidently enthusiastic over contemporary Venetian painting, being closely acquainted with Rosalba Carriera and Joseph Smith, with whom he shared a dealer's business sense and, apparently, a certain lack of refinement.

It is said he first met Rosalba in Venice in 1701,1 and between September 1704 and 1708 he wrote her a number of letters while he was in Italy but away from Venice, their content suggesting he already knew her well.2 Most are written in Italian ('escusa mio stilo, sono forestiero') and some in French. In the summer of 1704 he had visited Vicenza and Verona and on 9 September he wrote that he was setting off next day from Padua, through Bologna (where he would stay for five or six days) and Loreto to Rome, where he was determined to find a supply of good pastel crayons for her.3 Cole was then travelling with John Bourchier, whom he did not mention to Rosalba.4 From Rome on 1 November he told her how much her miniature portrait of him was admired and that there was no miniaturist in Rome who could compare with her. It is clear this was his first visit to Rome, and he was greatly impressed not only by St Peter's but with the baroque church of S.Ignazio; he particularly mentioned the drawings and paintings of Carlo Maratti, whom he also met.

On 22 November 1704 he wrote to Rosalba commissioning a sleeping Venus in a garden to be painted on ivory. By 10 January 1705 he had the pastel crayons ready to send her; two weeks later (31 January) he had spoken with the secretary of the Accademia di S.Luca [Giuseppe Ghezzi] and established that Rosalba would have to send her self portrait 'et qualche piccola cosa' to be elected - he would submit her works. Ghezzi was still awaiting her works on 14 March and Cole would send her diploma as soon as her pictures arrived. On 22 April he was sending the Hon. John Scudamore to her and he hoped she would paint his portrait. On 2 May he sent her, through Thomas Frankland, a book describing the Accademia. On 9 May he was recommending Richard Tighe and saying that many Englishmen were coming to Venice all hoping to sit to her; he had failed to get a passport for Naples, and Maratti was growing impatient to have Rosalba's portrait for the Accademia. On 15 August Cole said he would be leaving Rome on 24 September, but would not return to Venice until about December. On 19 September Cole at last received her self portrait, and he was about to leave Rome for Siena and Leghorn (Rosalba's election to the Accademia took place on 27 September).

It is not clear whether Cole then returned to England or stayed in Italy, but he is next recorded as secretary to the 4th Earl of Manchester on his special mission to Venice. On 1 July 1707 Cole told Rosalba he would be accompanying the new ambassador at his official entry into the City on the 21st, see Manchester. It was probably Cole who recommended to him the painter G.F. Pellegrini, Rosalba's brother-in-law.5 In March 1708 Manchester recommended Cole to succeed him as resident, being 'very proper for this place',6 and Cole was made charg? d'affaires in Venice from October 1708 to September 1714.7 By October 1708 he was living in Venice in a house with a garden near 'Sigr Luca' [Carlevaris], another painter patronised by Manchester.8

In 1710 - 11 Cole corresponded with Lord Dartmouth concerning the prices of pictures signed by Sebastiano Ricci and Niccolo Cassana,5 and on 1 May 1711 he sent to England an inventory of the disputed pictures from the Gonzaga collection (then hung in a palace near Joseph Smith's house).9 Between March and early May 1712 he was in Milan 'and elsewhere' in connection with the visit of the Electoral Prince of Saxony's visit to Italy.7 In May 1714 he was having clandestine meetings at Smith's residence with the newly-appointed Venetian ambassador in London, Niccolo Tron.(10) Cole had meanwhile married (bigamously) a well known 'file de joye', with whom he went to England in 1714 - 15.(11) They returned to Venice where Cole succeeded as British resident in May 1715, but he was not popular - 'the Userie, they say, was practised openlike in his house',12 - and he was shunned by the British community, 'save Mr Smith a Merchant [Joseph Smith] ... And it's said Mr Smith will sue for to succeed Mr Cole as Resident'.(13)

In 1735 Cole published his Historical and Political Memoirs, a collection of diplomatic correspondence from 1697 to 1708, concerning those events in which he and the Earl of Manchester were principally involved; he himself translated texts from 'Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish and Low-Dutch'.

1. F. Vivian, Il Console Smith, 20. 2. See Sani 1985, 84 - 94. 3. See Sani 1985, 12 - 13. 4. Brown 1223. Shrewsbury Jnl. (6 Dec. 1704). 5. F. Haskell, Patrons and Painters, 276n1. Cf. Sani 1985, 122. 6. Manchester, Court and Society, 2:299. 7. See Horn, 1:83 - 4. 8. Sani 1985, 122. 9. Vivian (at n1), 9. 10. Ibid., 10. 11. SP 99/61, f.41 (Broughton, 7 Jun. 1715). 12. SP 99/61, f.85 (Cunningham, 8 Dec. 1715). 13. SP 99/61, f.49 (Broughton, 23 Aug. 1715).