(fl. 1771 - 1824), collector, s. of Sir Thomas Slade, Kt. (d. 1771); one of the syndicate who acquired the Flemish pictures from the Orléans coll. 1792.
1774 - 8 - [dep. England Jun. 1774] [Malta] Sicily, Venice (c.1774 - 7), Naples (Jan. 1778), Sicily, Rome (by Apr.)
A man 'of very independent fortune', Slade travelled for two years in Great Britain before setting out for Italy in June 1774. He went 'through France, Switzerland, Italy, visited Malta, and Sicily, and reached Venice without purchasing a single picture', but then, as he described it, 'instead of spending two or three weeks at Venice according to my original intention, I became incantenato, and cavaliere servente to a certain Contessa of the first consideration, and I remained in that fascinating city for nearly two years'.1 In that time he acquired the Vitturi collection jointly with the British chargé d'affaires John Udny, whose credit subsequently failed, enabling Slade to take the whole. Apart from these outstanding pictures Slade also acquired medals, gems, intaglios and cameos from Vitturi, a collection of prints and drawings from Count Durazzo (the Imperial ambassador at Venice), and a 'Bird's Eye View of all Venice', by Guardi (closely derived from an engraving by Furlanetto) which Slade himself had commissioned.2 He was able to enjoy his acquisitions for a year in Venice before being called home on the outbreak of the American wars. His cargo of pictures was sent from Venice in 1777, but he also left there a number of large pictures which he had bought with Udny in Ferrara for resale.3 Slade visited Rome, Naples and Sicily before returning home.3 He was probably the Mr Slade seen in Naples by Sir William Hamilton in January 1778,4 and Thomas Jones saw him in Rome in April 1778,5 when he was sharing lodgings with Henry Tresham on the Corso 'verso Babuino'.6
1. See Buchanan, 1:322 - 7, and see 328 - 34. 2. See M. Levey, Burl.Mag., 102[1960]:365. 3. Dick corr.MSS (Udny, 3 Apr. 1778). 4. Fothergill 1969, 165. 5. Jones Memoirs, 70. 6. AVR sa, S.Maria del Popolo.