(1710 - 81), merchant of the Russia Company, amateur architect, collector, philanthropist, s. of Robert Dingley, goldsmith of London; FSA 1734; Dilettanti 1736; FRS 1748; dir. of the Bank of England 1757 - 67; m. 1 1744 Elizabeth Thompson (d. 1759), 2 1760 Esther Spencer.
1733 - 4 Florence (by 31 Jan. - 28 Mar. 1733), Rome ( - 1 Apr. 1734), Padua (13 Apr.), Venice (by 30 Apr.)
'Pretty Mr. Dingley' met Joseph Spence in Florence in January 1733 and he left for Rome two months later.1 Dingley met Richard Pococke in Rome and left at the beginning of April 1734.2 On 13 April he was in Padua with John Delme and Robert Bristow.3 He was in Venice by 30 April among a party of Englishmen from Rome on their way home.4 At Venice he appears to have visited Joseph Smith, for in 1735 he wrote to Rosalba Carriera from London asking for a picture of 'a pretty young country girl ... in the style of the Winter [by Rosalba] in Mr Smith's collection', adding that there was 'no need to say anything to Mr Smith about this'.5 Dingley wrote to Rosalba again in October 1738 enquiring about two paintings he had commissioned from her and was eagerly awaiting,6 and in January 1739 he was told the pictures would soon be sent by sea from Venice.7
1. Spence Letters, 139, 152. See J. H. Appleby, Notes and Records R.Soc.of London, 45ii[1991]:139 - 154. 2. Pococke letters MSS, f.7 (1 Apr 1734). 3. Brown 1958 - 60. 4. SP 99/63, f.254 (Burges). 5. Sani 1985, 603 (18 Jun. 1735). 6. Ibid. (31 Oct. 1738); for the paintings see Sani 1988, 299, 307. 7. Sani 1985, 643.