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Sir Paul Pindar

Portrait Print
1794 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Sir Paul Pindar (ca 1565-1650) was a merchant and diplomat. He was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire and educated at Wellingborough Grammar School. Pindar initially entered the trade as the apprentice to an Italian merchant in London who sent him to Venice in 1584 at the age of eighteen. He was later involved in trade with the Ottoman Empire. He eventually became secretary to the English ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Lello and later ambassador himself. During this period he amassed a great fortune which enabled him to build for himself a fine mansion in Bishopgate Street Without, London just beyond the City walls. The facade of this house was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1890 when the Great Eastern Railway enlarged the site of Liverpool Street Station and demolished the building. The facade is one of the largest objects in the Museum and is an extremely rare survival of a London timber-framed house built before the Great Fire of London in 1666.

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read Sir Paul Pindar's House The façade of Sir Paul Pindar's house is an outstanding survival of a London timber-framed house built before the Great Fire of 1666. It was built around 1599 by Paul Pindar (1565/6 – 1650), a wealthy merchant and diplomat who was knighted in 1620 by James I.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSir Paul Pindar (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Engraving on paper
Brief description
Engaved portrait of Sir Paul Pindar by Thomas Trotter after an anonymous painting of 1614; 1794
Physical description
Portrait of Sir Paul Pindar half-length facing front
Dimensions
  • Size of sheet height: 13.0cm
  • Size of sheet width: 12.5cm
  • Size of image height: 11.4cm
  • Size of image width: 9.0cm
Marks and inscriptions
Sir Paul Pindar..Anno 1614. Constantinopoli
Credit line
Bequeathed by Miss Anne Geraldine Hill
Object history
The complete engraving also shows a portrait of Ralph Pindar, brother of Sir Paul Pindar, at the age of 31, from a portrait also painted in Constantinople in 1614. An impression of that part of the engraving showing Ralph Pindar alone is E.3805-1934.
Production
After an anonymous original painted in 1614
Subject depicted
Summary
Sir Paul Pindar (ca 1565-1650) was a merchant and diplomat. He was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire and educated at Wellingborough Grammar School. Pindar initially entered the trade as the apprentice to an Italian merchant in London who sent him to Venice in 1584 at the age of eighteen. He was later involved in trade with the Ottoman Empire. He eventually became secretary to the English ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Lello and later ambassador himself. During this period he amassed a great fortune which enabled him to build for himself a fine mansion in Bishopgate Street Without, London just beyond the City walls. The facade of this house was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1890 when the Great Eastern Railway enlarged the site of Liverpool Street Station and demolished the building. The facade is one of the largest objects in the Museum and is an extremely rare survival of a London timber-framed house built before the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Associated object
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1943, London: HMSO, 1956.
Collection
Accession number
E.430-1943

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Record createdJuly 2, 2008
Record URL
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