Notes and Queries, Number 74, March 29, 1851, page 9 by Various Authors
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p>"CHARLES R.
"Whereas wee vnderstand that an excellent Collection of paintings are to be solde in Venice, whiche are knowen by the name of Bartolomeo della Nave his Collection, Wee are desirous that our beloved servant Mr. William Pettye, should goe thither to make the bargayne for them, Wee our selues beinge resolved to goe a fourthe share in the buyinge of them (soe it exceed not the s[=o]me of Eight hundred powndes sterlinge), but that our Name be concealed in it. And if it shall please God that the same Collection be bought and come safelye hither, Then wee doe promise in the word of a Kinge, that they shall be divyded with all equallitye in this maner, vid^t. That, they shall be equallie divyded into fower partes by some men skillfull in paintinge, and then everie one interested in the shares, or some for them, shall throwe the Dice severallye, and whoesoever throwes moste, shall chose his share first, and soe in order everye one shall choose after first, as he castes most, and shal take their shares freelye to their owne vses, as they shall fall vnto them. In wittnes whereof wee haue sett our hande, this Eight daye of July, in the Tenth year of our Reigne, 1634."
The individual employed by Charles in this negotiation is the same who collected antiquities in Greece for the Earl of Arundel. He was Vicar of Thorley, in the Isle of Wight, and is believed to have been the uncle of the celebrated Sir William Petty, ancestor of the Marquis of Lansdowne. It would be curious to learn the particulars of the "bargayne" made by him, and how the pictures were disposed of after their arrival in England. Were the Warrant and Privy Seal books of the period (still remaining among the Exchequer records) easily accessible, no doubt some information on these points might be gained. That this collection of Bartolomeo della Nave was a celebrated one, we have the testimony of Simon Vouet, in a letter to Ferrante Carlo, written from Venice, August 14, 1627, in which he speaks of it as a "studio di bellissime pittu