(1682 - 1749), 1st s. of Patrick Crowe of Ashington, Northumb.; consul at Leghorn 1705 - 16; m. 1715 Ldy. Charlotte Lee, dau. of 1st E. of Lichfield and wid. of 4th B. Baltimore [I].
1704 - 16 Leghorn, with visits to Florence and Rome [Geneva, 1715]
Christopher Crowe was already a merchant in Leghorn before his appointment as English consul in 1705.1 In addition to his consular duties he acted as an intermediary for British collectors. In 1709 Vanbrugh required him to negotiate the purchase of statues for the saloon at Blenheim: 'What is to be desir'd of Mr Crow is: That he'll give himself the trouble of steping over to Florence to treat for these statues'.2 In 1714 the Earl of Strafford asked Crowe to supervise the shipping of some bronze statues by Soldani and to order columns and pedestals of Carrara marble for Wentworth Castle.3 In May 1715 Crowe sent a copy of the Wrestlers (Uffizi) to James Stanhope and with it 'a brass faun of which I beg your Lady's acceptance it being the onely one in Italy that's left of that famous Master Domenico'.4 It is probable that Crowe travelled widely in Italy in his role as agent. Crowe's marriage in 1715 to Lady Baltimore, a divorced Catholic, impeded his prospects as consul, and the following year he returned to England (see Charlotte, Baroness Baltimore).
In 1722 Crowe acquired Kiplin Hall in North Yorkshire where the paintings included his portrait (as a virtuoso) by Trevisani and four views of Venice by Luca Carlevaris (two sold Christie's, 26 Nov. 1971). Eighty pictures, mostly Venetian, north Italian, Flemish and Dutch, were listed at Kiplin Hall in 1771.3
1. HMC Buccleuch, 2:692. 2. H. Honour, Connoisseur, 141[1958]:222. 3. R. Haslam, CL, 4 Aug. 1983, 278 - 80. 4. SP 98/23 (Crowe, 3 Dec. 1714, 24 May 1715).