(1747 - 1831) of Woolbeding, Sx., 3rd s. of 3rd D. of Marlborough; educ. Harrow and Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1762; MP 1768 - 99, 1802 - 7, 1817 - 20; Dilettanti 1770; m. 1811 Henrietta Fawkener, wid. of Hon. Edward Bouverie.
1767 - 8 Venice (Feb. 1767), Bologna, Florence (2 - 6 Mar.), Rome (Mar. - 7 Jun.), Terni, Florence (by 27 Jun. - 28 Jul.)
1771 Florence (Feb.), Naples, Rome (by 9 Apr.), Pisa, Leghorn (5 - 12 Jun.), Florence
With his tutor Moore (presumably the Rev. Dr John Moore who had been his tutor in England), Lord Robert arrived in Venice in February 1767.1 They passed through Bologna and on 2 March arrived in Florence, where they 'bowed to their Royal Highnesses'2 and Horace Mann provided an introduction to Cardinal Albani in Rome.3 They appear to have stayed in Rome until June. On 27 May Lord Kildare was considering travelling back to Florence with them 'as their intentions are to go rather a roundabout way to see the waterfall at Terni', and they were all in Florence by 27 June. On 21 July Kildare said that Spencer was leaving Florence 'next week'.4 Although Lord Robert is said to have acquired Raphael's Ansidei Madonna (NG London) from Gavin Hamilton in 1764 (in which year he was seventeen years old and in England), he does not appear to have acquired works of art while he was in Italy.5
Lord Robert returned to Italy in 1771. He arrived in Florence at the end of February, expecting to be in Naples by Easter,6 and it appears he was back in Rome from Naples early in April.7 On 5 June he came from Pisa to Leghorn with Mann, Lord Cowper and Lord Tylney; they all left for Florence on the 12th.2
1. ASV is 758. 2. Gazz.Tosc. 3. SP 105/318, f.161 (Albani, 14 Mar. 1767). 4. Leinster Corr., 3:468, 469, 470, 480. 5. See C. Gould, NG Catalogues, 16th c. Italian [1975 ed.], 218. 6. Add.41197, f.175 (T. Crofts, 26 Feb. 1771). Wal.Corr., 23:295. 7. SP 93/26 (Hamilton, 9 Apr. 1771).